Ikimono Shinobi
by Piffsheep
Summary: Naruto wins the fight at VOTE and brings Sasuke back. Next morning when he awakes he is a fox! He runs out in the forest and meets the rest of the animalificated team. Now they have to figure out what's going on! Lots of pairings, but mostly action...
1. Chapter 1

**AN:**

**Ohaiyo! Well, here you see. I got this idea in my head... and it wouldn't go away! So to be able to continue writing on TRW I wrote it down. And posted it as well. It has no plot, no anything, actually. But I suppose I'll work that out later. Enjoy the first chapter! **

"Talk"

'Think'

"Jutsu"

**DISCLAIMER:**** I do not own Naruto. But I own the story though. This is made merely for entertainment, and I do not gain anything from it.**

**Oh, and the translations are in the stoey instead of the bottom now...**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 1: Great, we're animals.**

Uzumaki Naruto sighed happily as he saw the massive gates of Konoha come into view. On his back was Uchiha Sasuke, a genin that tried to defect, and was Naruto's team mate. Naruto nearly dragged his legs forward as he was utterly exhausted from his fight with Sasuke. In the end, he won, as Sasuke had faltered in his resolve of killing Naruto when they clashed with their most powerful attacks.

-------*-------

Furasshu Bakku no jutsu (Flash Back jutsu)

-------*-------

An angry Sasuke stood, panting and glared at his former teammate. "Naruto." He growled. Naruto stood on the opposite side of the water. "SASUKE!" He shouted. The two genin powered up their strongest jutsu. In Sasuke's hand a Chidori crackled into life. In Naruto's hand a spinning blue orb formed. They leapt at each other while shouting the name of their attack.

"Chidori!"(Thousand birds)

"Rasengan!"(Spiraling Sphere)

They clashed. Their attacks trying to overpower each other, and then… nothing. The jutsu cancelled each other out. Both of them were dead tired and fell down, their alternate forms receding. (Fox cloak and Curse seal level 2) Naruto slowly rose up and frowned at Sasuke. "Why… didn't you power the Chidori all up?" He asked his fallen team mate. He reached out a hand. Sasuke took it and smirked slightly. "I couldn't kill…the dobe. You're…after all the lifeforce around here." He said, and then fell unconscious. Naruto smiled a sad smile as rain began to fall then he lifted Sasuke on his back and proceeded to slowly walk towards Konoha.

-------*-------

Furasshu Bakku no jutsu, Kai! (Kai: Release)

-------*-------

Naruto managed to see Kakashi jumping towards them before he fell unconscious. Kakashi shot forward and caught his students. He smiled sadly as he gazed at them. 'Naruto… you did it' He thought before carrying both teens back to Konoha. At the gates, Tsunade stood, together with Sakura and Ino. A smile lit up both the Hokage and Sakura as Kakashi came with Sasuke and Naruto. "Naruto…he made it! He kept his promise!" Sakura said while smiling. Kakashi nodded and eye smiled. "Hai, but now you need to move, both of them are exhausted. Now Ino spoke up. "What! What did the baka do to Sasuke-kun!" She screamed. Kakashi, Sakura and Tsunade glared at her. "He brought back Sasuke with minimal injuries other than Chakra exhaustion. Naruto has way more serious injuries." Kakashi said. Tsunade nodded. "Hai, get them both to hospital, quick!" She yelled, and Kakashi instantly moved with his two students, not noticing that both of them suddenly started to sweat profusely.

-------*-------

Naruto woke up in a white room. He groaned as his memories came back to him. Sasuke had nearly killed him, but then changed opinion in the middle of the final attack. Speaking of Sasuke…Naruto spun around in his bed and looked at another bed. He noticed that it had been used as it was messy. Then he noticed a small tuft of what looked like fur, sitting in the sheets. He studied it and found out that it actually had the same colour as Sasuke's hair. Then he noticed that everything seems smaller. He wondered why, and walked to the mirror, expecting to see himself wearing a lot of bandages, but what he did see…

Naruto yelped as he studied the reflection in the mirror. In the mirror, there was a golden fox, the size of a dog. And it had many bandages. The only thing he could see as a part of himself was the sapphire blue eyes the fox had. Suddenly, he heard the noises of feet. He darted around the room looking for somewhere to hide as foxes weren't very much liked here. The only options he found…was the forest. He quickly slid open the window with his snout, and leapt out as a nurse came in. She only saw a golden fox tail before it was gone.

-------*-------

Sakura yawned as she woke up. She stretched, and promised herself that today; she was going to look better than ever before for her Sasuke-kun. She tried to walk out of her bed, but fell. "Eh?" She mumbled before getting a look on her hands… or rather what were hands before. She was looking at two pink paws, the same colour as her hair. She was gone to the mirror before a second had passed. She stared at the reflection that stared at her. It was a pink cat, with green eyes and a red bow on her tail, the same colour as her dress. She blinked once. Twice. Then she screamed her lungs off. "AAH! I'm a cat! How can I date Sasuke-kun now!?" She screamed. The door burst open. "Sakura? Huh, she's not here?" Sakura jumped up in front of the Haruno woman. "But mom, I'm here!" She meowed. Her mother looked down and froze. "A demon cat? Shoo! Get away from here, SHOO!" She shouted and tried to kick Sakura. Poor Sakura was forced to jump out of the window, and landed up in a tree.

-------*-------

Naruto was running in the edge of the forest in full speed. He had to reach the Kage tower some way, but it was in the middle of the village! So he tried to find a way without any people to see him. Unfortunately, he didn't look out, and crashed in something and landed on his furry butt. "Hn, stupid animals." A voice said. Or rather mumbled. "Hey! Who're you calling animal!" Naruto cried out. The one who made the noise blinked. It came forward from the shadows with narrowed eyes. "How can you speak, animal?" It asked. It was a bluish-black panther, on size with a wolf. Naruto frowned, the colour was somehow connected to the fur in the hospital might be? " Because I'm not an animal! I just look like it!" That perked the panther's interest. "What? Then what are you?" The panther asked. Naruto grinned. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha, and I'm a human!" He barked out. The panther widened it's eyes. "Naruto? You became an animal too?" It exclaimed. Naruto cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean too?" He asked. The panther smirked. "Heh, still as slow as ever, eh, dobe?

Naruto and the panther, who turned out to be none other than Sasuke, was walking in the forest talking, and speculating on why they had become animals. Sasuke also apologized for his earlier behaviour and attempt to kill Naruto, but Naruto just brushed it off, saying that he'd make sure to help Sasuke kill Itachi. When they was near the Haruno household, they thought of visiting Sakura, but that was stopped when they heard a crashing sound and a meow. They looked up, and saw a pink cat tied up in some tree branches. 'Wait, pink? Sakura?' The two thought as they jumped up to help the frustrated cat.

Sakura meowed and scratched at the bark to get lose but to no avail. Suddenly, a panther and a fox jumped up. The panther clawed trough the branches like they were made of butter and the fox bit the rest off. "Ne, cat? Are you by any chance Sakura?" The panther asked. Sakura nodded slowly. "Yes, I am…what about it?" The fox jumped up and down. "That means everyone in team 7 became animals! Wait, maybe not Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura blinked in confusion then she noticed that the fox and the panther's fur resembled the colour of her team mates hair. "Naruto? Sasuke?" She breathed out.

The two nodded. "Hai. We don't know what happened, but it seems we have become animals. As of now, I actually hope Kakashi became an animal too, because then he could train us, but…" Sasuke explained, but was interrupted when a brown pug with a Konoha hitai-ate (forehead protector) landed in the tree with them. He appeared to be sniffing out a trail and was startled when a pink cat stood in front of him. "Pakkun?" It said. Pakkun nodded. "Who are you and why do you smell like Haruno Sakura?" He asked. The cat smiled. "I am Sakura. But we need to know, have something happened to Kakashi-sensei?" Pakkun looked stunned. "Uh… yeah, he…" He was interrupted when a silver dog landed beside him. "*huff* No one ever said * gasp* that it was so damn hard to move on four legs." It said. It then looked at Pakkun. "Did you find them?" Pakkun nodded and gestured towards Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto.

Sakura blinked. "Sensei? Wow, now all of team 7 is an animal!" She meowed loudly. The silver dog, apparently Kakashi, blinked. "Do any of you have any idea of how this happened?" He asked, his normally lazy demeanour changed into a serious one. The three other shook their heads, but then Kakashi got a new scent in his nose. "Who's there!" He demanded. A new voice laughed silently, although it sounded more like barking. "Follow my voice, and you might find out why you are like this…" The voice said. In no time at all, team 7 + Pakkun followed the voice.

**Ne, did you like it? I know, it's kinda weird but I figured those animals fit them. Now who might the mystery voice be? I know something that you don't! Ha! XD Oh, and by the way, there are three more characters that have become animals, but they won't be exposed before the next chapter. You can try guessing, but I bet you won't get all three right! If you get one at all...XD Ja Ne!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:**

**Here's the new chapter! Yeyz XD I love making this story. Oh, and don't care about the characters having other personalities or such. My story, my rules! It is great to see that there was some who put my story in Story Alert and Favorite! I feel so happy! X3 About Pakkun just coming from nowhere in last chapter, Kakashi summoned him with the use of his scroll. I'll tell you more in later chapters! AH, over to the story.**

"Talk" 'Think' "jutsu"

**DISCLAIMER:**** I don't own Naruto, but I own this story, and Oc's (Mainly Toboe as of now.)**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 2: You too!?**

A panther, a cat, a fox, and two dogs were seen running trough the forest. This was team 7 and Pakkun, a ninja dog. At the moment they were following a taunting voice, chasing after the solution of their…animalistic…problem.

"Heh, you need better speed to find me…" The voice echoed in between the large trees. Kakashi growled while his students merely narrowed their eyes, and attempted to achieve more speed. Suddenly the lead dog, Pakkun, stopped in the middle of a clearing, confusion evident on his face. Kakashi stopped next to him and narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his newly acquired dog snout. "What is it, sensei?" Sakura asked. Her sense of smell was not good enough to smell anything out of the ordinary. "The scent of whoever is the voice stopped." Kakashi explained. Sasuke stretched and showed off his sharp claws. "So? Doesn't that mean he or she is close to here then?" He said and looked around for anything suspicious.

"It would seem you are quite smart, Uchiha. And yes, I am close to your location. In fact, if you just looked up…" The sentence ended, and everyone shot their head up. On a tree branch, there was a large brown-black wolf, smirking at them. "You're animal skills are…lacking. But I suppose I can fix that." The wolf said. Its voice was quite feminine, so everyone assumed it was a female. "Who are you? And how do you know I'm an Uchiha?" Sasuke demanded to know. Sakura only stared at the wolf, while Naruto grinned. "Ah, you'll get to know later. But if my name is necessary…Toboe."

Kakashi's face was scrunched up in concentration. "Okay, Toboe. Do you mind telling us exactly WHY we have become animals?" He asked. The others nodded, while Pakkun cocked his head to the left. Toboe closed her eyes, then briefly frowned. "Not here. Shinobi are coming. One that smells like dog has your scent. Follow me." Without waiting for an answer, she leapt off the tree, landed silently in front of Kakashi and ran off. Naruto was the first to react. "Wait for me!" He yelled and darted after her. The other tree looked at each other and then dashed off as well.

-------*-------

"Their scent is clearer!" One Inuzuka Kiba yelled. His team, team 8 had been assigned by the Hokage to find team 7, who had mysteriously disappeared. "Hinata, use your Byakugan!(White eyes)" He shouted. The meek Hyuuga heiress nodded and activated her eyes. "K-Kiba-kun, I can't see them. But there are six chakra sources nearby. But their chakra system looks like an animal's!" Shino, their third member frowned at this. "What do they look like, Hinata?" He asked with a quiet voice. "T-they look l-like a fox, a cat, a larger cat animal, and tree dogs. W-wait, the third dog is slightly larger than normal and has a different shape. I think it might be a wolf."

Kiba suddenly stopped. "What the..? Their scent is gone! Akamaru, can you find them?" Akamaru, his little dog barked in confusion. "What do you mean there is chakra everywhere that is disturbing your smell? I can't see anything!" Hinata tapped Kiba on his shoulder. "Ano(Um), Kiba-kun. I can see traces of chakra in the air as well. I can't see the chakra sources anymore, they ran away." She informed him while tilting her eyebrows into a small frown.

-------*-------

Kakashi and his genins were panting heavily. Pakkun had been dismissed by Kakashi earlier and thus returning to the summoning world. In front of them was the puzzling wolf they met earlier, Toboe. The fact the she didn't seem to be tired the least irritated Sasuke. 'How can a normal wolf be this strong!? I need to be stronger so I can kill Itachi, panther or not!' He thought. A certain wolf ruined his chain of thoughts as she stopped and glared lightly at him. "Uchiha, you shouldn't kill your brother before you know the truth." She simply said before continuing on the run. Sasuke was shocked, how could she know his thoughts!? And what did she mean by the truth? His musings came to an end as she stopped again.

Kakashi flopped down on the forest floor, Naruto not long after. Sakura meowed in irritation as Toboe seemingly ignored their exhausted condition. "It seems we are here. You have better stamina than I would have thought, but it is still lacking. We'll fix that later." She said, and then looked around and sniffed in the air. "No one's here. Good." She mumbled, but only Sasuke noticed it, as he was closest to her. Then she walked in an apparently useless pattern, before putting her left front paw down on a stone. "Kai!(release!)" She shouted and right in front of the former humans, the stone wall fluttered a bit, before it was gone, and in it's place, there was a small path, and on a moss covered stone a slightly larger than normal black weasel sat.

"Heh, what's up?" Toboe asked. She smiled slightly. Sasuke narrowed his own eyes, as the weasel looked at him with freakishly interested eyes. "Hn. Nothing. The others wondered where you had gone off to." Sasuke's eyes widened, that voice! Toboe slowly moved in front of Sasuke. "Hai, it is who you think it is. But he's still stronger than you. Appearances can be deceiving." She explained her face now in a serious mask. Sasuke growled and showed off his teeth and claws. The weasel behind Toboe smirked slightly. Suddenly, Kakashi interrupted. "Wait, wait. Who is the weasel? And what did you mean earlier by 'the truth'?" He frowned, disliking not knowing what was going on. "Hn. The truth of the Uchiha massacre." The weasel said.

-------*-------

Tsunade was shocked, and sad. Team 8 had come back, but they had not found team 7, as their scent apparently just disappeared. And there were animals with chakra system in the forest too! This would cause tremendous amounts of paperwork. But she couldn't help but think. 'Why? Why did they disappear?' Unfortunately she couldn't think more about that as Shizune came in with a new stack of paper. "AARGH, Damn paperwork!" Tsunade yelled.

-------*-------

Kakashi looked intently on the weasel. "What do you mean the truth!? Itachi killed his clan, apparently for 'measuring his capacity!" He growled. The weasel sighed. "I got orders from the council to do it." He said. Kakashi looked dumbfounded. "The council? Wait, you!? You are Uchiha Itachi!?" The last part was yelled by Sakura and Naruto too. Toboe snickered. "I so knew they would react this way. Right, Itachi-san?" She barked. "Hn." Was the reply. Sasuke hissed. " Stupid council! I'll…!" He was stopped by Itachi glaring coldly at him. "You'll do nothing, otouto(little brother). Not yet at least." Toboe sweat dropped as the mood seemed to tense. "Okay, that's enough. I suppose I could tell you how you all ended up like this, ne?" Everyone bounced up, even Sakura. "HAI!" They shouted. Not Itachi though, he already knew.

Toboe sat down. "Well. I have sneaked around a bit, and concluded why some people have become animals. It seems someone have used a jutsu named: Atamagaokashii sakusha no jutsu.(Insane author jutsu) With this jutsu, everything can happen. What happened this time was that some people were turned into the animals their personality resembled. Or something around that, this can be affected though." Everyone stared at her as if she was crazy. "So…is that why you are a wolf too?" Sakura asked. Toboe shook her head. "Nope. I'm a hanyou(Half demon). But this is the appearance I prefer to use." She explained. Even Itachi widened his eyes at that.

"Now then. There are two other people I have met that also have become animals. And you know one of them. Follow me to the camp. No breaks!" Toboe yapped, and ran off again. Itachi looked at the unresponsive group of Shinobi and shrugged before he followed. Naruto was once again the first to run after the wolf. Sakura didn't want to run anymore and merely jumped onto Kakashi's back.

-------*-------

"Do you think Toboe'll return soon? It's boring here without her. Both you and Itachi are boring." A female voice meowed. "I do not know. And I am not boring." Came the answer, in a monotone. "Che, you're even TALKING in a boring way. But at least you don't say Hn all the time." The female retorted.

"hn."

The female blinked. "NOOO!"

-------*-------

Kakashi blinked "I swear I heard someone right now." He mumbled. Toboe grinned, although he couldn't see it. "I bet it is one of the others, she hates boring things, and the other is exactly that, boring." She answered. "Can't you say who it is?" Sakura asked. She was pretty much annoyed, as Sasuke was brooding and trying to find ways to kill the council, Naruto was bouncing around having fun with his new body, and Kakashi was her ride. Toboe shook her head. "Now what would be the fun with that?" She asked. Sakura scowled slightly, an expression that didn't fit on her small, pink furred face. "She is like that, Haruno-san. That's just who she is." Itachi said as he jumped onto Kakashi's back as well, tired of running when he could just do as Sakura.

"Here we are!" Toboe shouted as they entered a clearing. On the other side of the clearing there were many caves in the mountain, but instead of looking gloomy, they were lit up and seemed kind of cozy. To the left there was a waterfall, and to the right, there was a training ground. While the four new occupants looked around, two figures came out of one of the caves. One was a Tanuki. This was a blood red in colour, but on the top of its head there was a pattern that resembled a seal in a sand-like colour. The other character was a blonde cat, with a blue seal on top of her head. The cat jumped at Toboe. "How could you leave me with him! He's awfully boring!" She said, exasperated. Toboe grinned. "cuz I had to find someone funnier for you to play with! It seems the jutsu is still in work." She explained. She howled, and team 7 came going. Or rather, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura came going. Naruto was jumping everywhere.

"Hi! Who are you! Why are you a cat? Who are the Tanuki! Why do you have different colour on your head fur?" Naruto yipped. The cat blinked once, before answering with the same enthusiasm. "I'm Nii Yugito! I'm the Jinchurikii (Did I spell that right?) of Nibi no Bakeneko!(TwoTails monster cat)" She replied. The tanuki smiled slightly, it was barely a twitch of its lips. "You actually forgot about me? Then I suppose introductions are in order. Sabaku no Gaara, Jinchurikii of Ichibi no Shukaku.(Onetails. I think shukaku is its name)" The teens eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "What?! Gaara! But, is it only you?" Naruto exclaimed. Toboe frowned at this. "No it isn't. But when I found him, thanks to some kind of telepathic link, his sister and brother were gone. I'll find them eventually. Now you introduce yourselves."

Kakashi stepped forward and had a lazy look in his eye. His other eye was closed, due to him still having the Sharinghan,(Copy-wheel eye) and nothing to cover it with. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. Also known as Sharinghan no Kakashi or Kopi Ninja no Kakashi." He sat down. Sakura climbed onto his head. "My name is Haruno Sakura! I…uh haven't done anything special, actually." She looked a little sad by this. Sasuke laid down on the ground, while keeping an eye on Itachi. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I am one of the two survivors of the Uchiha clan." With that he promptly put his head on his paws and tried to sleep. Naruto grinned. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And…I am the Jinchurikii of the Kyuubi no Youko.(NineTails demon fox)" Sakura and Sasuke gasped, and Naruto shut his eyes tightly waiting for them to yell at him or something. When he got a cat nuzzling him, he opened his eyes in shock and saw Sakura with a determined gaze. "That's why the villagers hate you, right?" She asked, and Naruto nodded. He turned to Sasuke who was smirking. "Che, Dobe. We don't hold it against you or anything." He assured the golden fox.

Suddenly, on top of his head, was his seal, in blood red fur. "Why didn't he have it from the start?" Yugito asked, confusion evident in her voice. Toboe looked intently at the seal before answering. "I believe he suppressed it from showing. Now that he told it…" She shrugged. "Okay, over to funnier and more serious things. I took you here because I and Itachi can train you. This happened to Itachi a year ago so he knows a little about it. If I have done my math correct, you should be able to morph into human form in about two years. So, in two and a half years, you'll be staying here. I'll go search for Temari and Kankuro too."

"Let the training begin!"

**Yup, that's the end of this chapter. This is actually the longest chapter I've ever written, in any of my stories. What do you think of my newly invented jutsu? It's ingenious! XD I love being half crazy. Oh, and about Yugito, she is younger than in cannon. In this fic I'd say she is about 15. And as said their personality will be unlike cannon. Yugito didn't have much personality other than quickly angered, judging from the manga, anyway. Oh, and what animals do you think Temari and Kankuro is going to be? I already have some ideas, but more ideas is welcome! **

**JA NE!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:**

**Ohaiyo, minna! Here's a new chapter! Nothing much happens in this, just some...oh wait, if I tell you, it won't be fun to read! It have been a LOT of visitors on this story. I mean, 284!? And that is just now before I posted this chapter. This was originally just some messy writing, and now... Heh. I'd say I'm kind of proud. But enough about that. Go on reading!**

"Talk"

'Think'

"jutsu"

**Demon/summon speaking**

**DISCLAIMER: Sorry to say, but I don't own Naruto. Then it would be more nin-animals there!**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 3: Start the training.**

"Eh? We are going to go hunting? What for!?" Sakura yelled. She had never been fond of hurting small defenceless animals, and if she could help it, she wouldn't start now either. Toboe smiled. "Cuz all of you guys, except Itachi as he already knows it, need to learn better stealth. Now that you're animals, I'd say your ranking was: Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. You're about academy level. Yugito and Gaara are about genin, and Kakashi is about high genin." She explained.

Naruto looked like it was the end of the world. Then he jumped up again. "Okay! Teach me, Toboe-sensei!" He barked. Sasuke merely "hn-ned" while Sakura looked uncertain. "Just wait a second or two. Large groups going for hunting is not good. Thus, I will split us up in two groups. Sakura, Yugito and Gaara goes with Itachi, as you guys are small. Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto will follow me. We will meet here at sunset. Everybody must have a prey. Use whatever means necessary. Now, move!"

Toboe and Itachi sped off in different directions, and the rest of their group followed shortly after.

Itachi ran for a while, and then he settled onto an old log. Gaara and Yugito were panting slightly, while Sakura was utterly exhausted. Itachi eyed them carefully. "Well. Gaara and Yugito are quite fast, and they can run for a pretty good while. Sakura, you… can't even dream of it. You will need the most training. As we are small animals, we need to have quick and fluid motions, as well as being able to run from any of the dangerous wildlife out here. Now each of you search a little, and look for prey. If you feel that you can take it by yourself, try. If not, get me and I'll show you. Ike! (Go!)

-------*-------

Toboe was jumping from tree to tree in a zigzag pattern to test her "students" endurance. Sasuke had slightly stumbling movements, Kakashi was having trouble with which paw should be used when, and Naruto was gladly jumping around, his small, sharp claws digging into the bark so as he would not fall down. Suddenly Toboe stopped and jumped down. The three animals behind her quickly following. She turned around.

"I see you managed to keep up. That's good. Your problems are varying: Sasuke, you are trying to hard on the movements. You're trying to follow mine, but that won't work, as you are a cat animal, and should have more fluid motions. Kakashi. I don't understand how you do it, but you keep forgetting which paw is when. Try to just let your paws work for you, instead of the opposite. Naruto, you have the most stamina I have ever seen. As you're having fun, you just move, and your brain corrects your moves. Now, in this part of the forest, there are animals quite large. Watch out for bears or unfriendly creatures. You will have to find a prey, and take it down. I'll go get a meal for myself, so you're on your own. But if there is something especially dangerous, bite this seal." She showed them three papers with lots of weird marks. Kakashi looked impressed. "You know fuuin jutsu?" He asked. Toboe smirked. "Yep. Now move it! We don't have all day!"

-------*-------

Sakura was sneaking trough the forest floor, surprised by her own agility. But so far, she hadn't seen any animals she could catch. Her fur colour didn't actually help either. Suddenly, her ears perked up and she looked wearily around. A little grey mouse was creeping as low as it could, obviously cautious for enemies. Sakura frowned, but then let her new instincts take care of it and soon enough, she was on a mouse hunt.

-------*-------

Yugito was bouncing trough the trees, so fast that she was only a blur. As she and Gaara had been transformed for longer than team 7, they had worked on speed and endurance, but her endurance wasn't very good yet. She quickly landed on a branch and hid, when a human with three dogs came walking. Yugito grimaced. Toboe had told her not to come close to the humans yet. With as much silence as she could muster, she tried to sneak away, when the wind suddenly shifted and blew her scent towards the dogs. 'Crap!' Yugito thought as the dogs barked wildly and sat after her. Suddenly, prey wasn't so important anymore.

-------*-------

Gaara sighed as he travelled trough the woods. His new body wasn't designed to run for far distances and such. A squirrel was swiftly noticed, and it stood no chance against Gaara, as his sand was nearly automatic. The squirrel was quickly taken care of, and he used the sand to carry it back to Itachi.

-------*-------

Kakashi sprinted quickly trough the bottom of the forest. When he let his instincts take over, he immediately ran and walked better. He noticed a brown thing not to far from him, and leapt at it. It was a small deer, probably not even grown up. He quickly killed it by biting its throat, and hoisted it over his back so he didn't have to drag it. 'Well, I'd say that went fine' He thought.

-------*-------

Sasuke dashed away from Toboe. With more coordinated steps, thanks to Toboe's hint, he leapt from tree to tree. He saw a bunny and gave chase to it, but it escaped trough a hole in the ground. Sasuke snarled and tried to dig it out, but his paws weren't exactly meant for digging. He soon gave up and looked for something else. He found a large bird, and sneaked up on it. In no time at all, it hang from his mouth. A satisfied Sasuke smirked, or tried at least, since he had a bird in his mouth. He quickly ran back to the meeting place.

-------*-------

Naruto was jumping from tree to tree in a totally random pattern, seemingly enjoying it. Soon his nose started twitching, and he stopped his fun, to find whatever smelled so good. He darted from tree to tree and before long, he was in the outskirts of a small farm. There were some chickens and hens running around in the yard, and Naruto licked his snout. 'Yummy.' He thought, and leapt at the feathered meal. In no time at all, he had a hen in his mouth and a chicken under his paw. He grabbed the chicken and darted into the forest again.

-------*-------

Toboe was walking calmly between trees and bushes, enjoying the silence while looking for something to eat. Then, a loud bark broke the silence, soon followed by hissing and… a human voice. And Toboe knew that hissing. She frowned and jumped up in a tree to have a better look. Down on the ground, a well known blonde cat with blue on top of her head was hissing and trying to outrun three wolf-looking dogs. Behind them was a human girl with two red fang tattoos on her cheeks.

Toboe sighed. The girl was an Inuzuka, obviously. Yugito was now under the tree she was in, and she decided to end the game of chase. When the three dogs came, she leapt off and landed in front of them, showing her teeth. 'Move it! It's a cat!' One of the dogs barked. Toboe snarled. 'The cat is my friend. Leave, or I WILL hurt you.' She warned. The girl that was the owner of the dogs came running. "Oi, boys! Come back, you can't just go chase ca-…" She stopped when she saw the wolf. "Hmm? What are you doing here?" She asked with a friendly tone. Toboe narrowed her eyes. 'I heard the commotion these dogs made. Seems they wanted to chase my friend. Now leave. This is my forest.' She growled. The girl nodded. "Okay boys, move it! We're going home." With that, they followed the girl and disappeared.

A cat head popped out from no where. "Thanks, Toboe! I kind of forgot not to move this way…" She meowed. Toboe gained a deadpan look. "Yeah, yeah. Go get a kill already. Its not long before it is sunset." She informed, before she walked in another direction. Yugito immediately ran to find a prey.

-------*-------

Toboe trudged into the meeting place with a hawk in her mouth, and a little grey wolf pup following her. It had obviously lost its family, and thus; Toboe let it follow her. When she came, there was no one there yet, but she felt some of them coming. She threw the hawk to one of the caves, and took a deep breath before she howled. That was the signal to come back. The wolf pup stared at her in awe. Even her father couldn't howl that loud and… prideful. That was the word she chose. She yapped and tried to howl to, but it needed some work still…

-------*-------

Everyone was standing in a half circle around Toboe. She examined each of their prey, and approved the hunt with a nod and a smile. "Good, everyone caught something. But next time, you'll have to be faster and be more careful, so you don't hurt yourself." Here she gestured towards Sakura. The pink cat was full of thorns, dirt and pieces of bark. At her feet there was a very dead mouse. She smiled embarrassed. Toboe smirked, before turning towards the others again. "Also, be careful not to be caught by humans. That's all."

Naruto tilted his head and tried to look behind her. "Who's the little wolf!?" He asked excitedly. The wolf stared at him with big eyes. Toboe smiled warmly. "I found her in the forest, all alone. Her name is Ranmantaru (Glorious), but Ran for short." Sakura smiled, as did most of the others. "The name fits her!" Naruto said, and he was probably right. Ran had silvery grey fur that shined when she shifted, and her eyes were a deep chocolate brown. Ran yipped happily and proceeded to jump onto the golden fox.

"Good. The day turned out fine. Tomorrow will be yet another chance to prove yourselves. Now eat. If you don't like raw meat, then ask Itachi to use a katon jutsu or something…Good evening!" Toboe said as she took Ran in her mouth and leapt into one of the caves.

**Yep. That concludes the end of this chapter. What do you think? I like it, but I'm the one who made it so... There are some places I could have written better I think. **

**And what do you think about Ranmantaru? She can't speak human yet, but Toboe'll make something...I think. **

**And do you have any wishes for others to be turned into animals, and if so, which animal? Please review and tell me what you think. **

**JA NE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yo, new chapter here! ^.^ I love writing this, and my new story Raised by demons. It's also nice to know that people like it. So, I appreaciate ideas as well! Hope you like the chapter. **

"Talk"

'Think'

"jutsu"

_"Animal talk"_

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 4: Chakra training**

It was the second month they were animals. Everyone else than Sakura had taken a liking to hunting, but they still had more to learn. Thus, Toboe assembled them. "Yo guys! It's time to learn something else than hunting, but it'll still help." She announced. Itachi looked questioningly at her. "Is there anyway I may be of help in this new exercise?" He asked. Toboe nodded. "Yup. Well guys, it's time to teach you to use your chakra again!" This was met with cheers and a bouncing Naruto. "Okay. You do remember how you activated your chakra before? I believe you used the ram seal or something. But here is the problem; you don't have fingers. Now, time for some brain storming! I'll let you guys try it the rest of the day. If one of you is successful, or just at the end of the day, I'll tell you how to do it. Now, I got to go. Going to sneak around in town a bit." With a chakra enforced jump, she disappeared from view.

Toboe leapt from tree to tree, Ranmantaru right behind. "Okay, Ran. While in town, you have to act like a pet. You know how to do that, right?" Ran barked in affirmative. Toboe nodded, and while in the air, her whole body changed. Four legs became two and two arms, a snout became a face, and now there was a dark brown haired girl jumping in the trees instead. Toboe's human attire was nothing flashy. She had a light brown sweater with a black paw-mark, black fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the back, dark brown shorts with black tights underneath and nothing on the feet. She also had a blank hitai-ate. Her eyes were peculiar, as they had a black rim around, and no pupils. Kind of like Gaara, actually. But with less black, and amber eyes. Ran barked in wonder and awe. _"How did you do that!?"_ Toboe merely smirked. "I'll tell you later. We're here." She whispered as the big gates into Konoha came into sight.

Izumo yawned and looked at Kotetsu. "Ne, Kotetsu, why is it that we always get this job when none important stuff happens?" He asked. Kotetsu just shrugged. "Dunno. Hey, is it someone coming?" Izumo looked down the road and yes, indeed there was. The person was a girl with a hitai-ate, without any village. There was also a silver wolf following her. The girl looked at them with weird eyes. "Whoa, her eyes look like those of that Gaara kid." Izumo whispered, not noticing that the girl heard him and smirked. "Oi, I would be satisfied to get into the town before someone comes to get me. Again." The girl said. Kotetsu nodded. "Ah, what is your name and business here in Konoha?" He asked in a professional manner. The girl smirked. "I'm Toboe. My companion is Ranmantaru. We're here to see the sights, and maybe buy some food." She answered. Ran barked in agreement. "Ok. Welcome and have a nice stay!"

Toboe walked around in town for a while, buying things and studying the surroundings and the people. It didn't seem too bad, but she knew how they had acted towards Naruto before. She decided to find out what the villagers thought of the disappeared ninja. She walked up to a regular, fat man. "Excuse me, could you tell me something?" She asked politely. The man huffed. "What do you want?" He replied, his voice was gruff. Toboe tilted her head slightly. "What do you think of the newly disappeared ninja, team 7 if I remember correctly?" The man studied her, as if looking for any deception before nodding. "Well, their team leader was Sharinghan Kakashi. A good man, and strong too. Then there was a little pink haired girl. Quite useless. And there was Uchiha-sama. He was on par with the jounin and very heroic. The last one was the de- boy, Uzumaki. Completely useless and should have died at first mission." He looked proud of his explanation and didn't see Toboe's expression turn ice cold.

"I see." She said. The man turned and looked at her when she talked in a dead tone. He gulped when he saw her emotionless face. Then he noticed the silver wolf behind the girl. The wolf looked confusedly at the girl and then bared its teeth when looking at him. Needless to say, he quickly left the strange girl alone. Ran barked. _"How did you change your personality like that?" _Toboe looked at her. Her eyes now caring again. "It's a ninja thing. The cold face is my professional face." She replied. And then quickly turned around as she sensed someone coming towards her.

It was the girl from the forest, one month ago. The girl looked at her with interest. "Hi! You part of an animal clan or something? Oh, how rude of me, I'm Inuzuka Hana!" She said. Toboe blinked. "I'm Toboe. And no, I'm not part of a clan. I just have good connections with animals. I know what your dogs are saying right now." Hana got wide eyed. "You understand them? Wow." Toboe nodded. "Hmm. I wondered, what do you think of the vanished ninja team?" She asked. Hana frowned. "You mean team 7? What about it?" She asked warily.

Toboe narrowed her eyes slightly. "I disliked the way a mere civilian talked about them, and wondered about the ninja population." She answered. Hana glanced at her dogs. "True?" She asked by using body language. The triplets nodded. "Fine. It consisted of Hatake Kakashi, good ninja, and pervert. Also was there Uchiha Sasuke. Didn't care for much and was pretty stuck up. The third member was Haruno Sakura. A fangirl, but she did supposedly get better. The last person was Uzumaki Naruto. Friendly, heroic and quite strong. But he looked very stupid in those orange clothes." Toboe smiled. "I'd say your description was way better than the civilian one. Well, nice to meet you, but I got to talk to the Hokage. Ja ne." She smirked and together with Ran, she disappeared in a gust of wind, leaving a curious Hana.

Senju Tsunade was currently sitting in front of the Hokage desk, sleeping. You might think that this is not fitting behaviour for a kage, but Tsunade wasn't like most kage anyway. Suddenly, a knock on the door woke the now irritated lady up. "Come in." She growled. In came a girl, roughly around 12-13 years old. Tsunade sighed. "What do you want?" She asked. The girl smirked. "Hmm, maybe the Forbidden scroll? Nah. I just wondered if you could do me a favour." She said. Tsunade glanced warily at the girl. She knew about the forbidden scroll? How? "Why would I do you a favour? And where did you get info about the scroll?" She enquired.

The girl merely studied her for a while before answering. "You might say that I have a spy network. While it does not consist of humans, it works well. And to the favour, it's easy enough for you to do. Do NOT under any circumstances label team 7 nuke-nin. (Missing-nin)" Tsunade got wide eyes. "What? Why? Do you know where they are? Answer me!" The girl shook her head. "Patience, Hokage-sama." She replied before disappearing without a trace. Tsunade gritted her teeth. "Fine. But if I find you again…oh, I'll just ask the guards. After a nice nap that is." She mumbled, before trying to sleep again.

Toboe chuckled to herself as she materialized close to the ramen stand, Ichiraku. Ran was standing and looked VERY bored. 'Heh, I suppose I could buy some ramen for Naruto, he hasn't eaten it for long…' Toboe mused. She went over to the stand, to a smiling girl. "Hi. Could I buy some ramen to take with me? I've got a friend that likes the stuff but if unable to come himself at the moment." She lied smoothly. Or half-lied at least. The girl nodded. "Hai, will do! How many portions?" Toboe tilted her head slightly while thinking. "10? Yes, I think that will be good." When the girl looked at her incredulously, she just shrugged. "He LOVES ramen." Was the short explanation, and soon she was on the way to the gates again. When coming there, Ran found an awesome activity named "bite the arrogant Shinobi in the ass." As the new guards meant that Toboe couldn't leave by herself cuz she would get hurt and so on. As soon as Toboe was out of sight range she put her bags from her and morphed into wolf form again, once again amazing Ran. Then she took the bags in the mouth and sped into the forest.

Naruto was growling and rolling around in the grass. Toboe told him to just find a way? How the hell was he supposed to do that? What didn't exactly make it better was that it seemed everyone else had figured it out! He lifted his muzzle in the air and sniffed. Suddenly, a well known scent hit his nose. "RAMEN!" He yelled, just as Toboe leapt into the clearing with some bags of food, and other stuff. "Yup. And I got some other food too, for us others. I prefer meat, but it's a good change sometimes." She said, making everyone wonder how she actually talked with all the bags in her mouth.

Soon, everyone had gotten food, and Naruto was annihilating the poor ramen. After food, they assembled for the correct answer to unlocking chakra. Toboe held her head high as if it was important. "The trick…is concentration!" She announced, causing everyone to face-fault, considering that they had used the whole day to figure out something so simple. Toboe smirked. 'Got to think more, kiddies.' She thought before dragging the bags forward to herself. "I also got some weapons and such things, regarding that you'll have to have some extra skill. Pick a weapon you're comfortable with and try channelling chakra trough it. If you got the chakra that is."

Sasuke went first, and found a black-bladed tanto. He concentrated on his inner chakra, and found it after a while, then he tried to channel it into the tanto by his mouth. Not necessary to say, he got a hard time with that one. Kakashi was up next, he looked over everything and chose a simple kunai, although it wasn't as simple as everyone thought. Inside, there was a special room for poison. Sakura found herself two dark red wristbands, that when used, siphoned chakra from enemies. Naruto picked a knife that when he channelled wind chakra into it, it would become so sharp that he could cut trough a stone as if it was butter.

Gaara didn't want anything, but just in case, he took some shuriken and hid them in his sand. Yugito was ecstatic, as she loved anything sharp, or the opposite, cuddly. She chose a katana that would change size depending on the chakra stream. Itachi already had weapons. "Ne, Toboe won't you have to have a weapon?" Sakura curiously asked. Toboe grinned. "I've already got one. It's named Beni Houkou. Actually, why don't I show you?" She explained and nudged a nearly detectless seal on her right wrist causing a smoke cloud to erupt.

When it disappeared, there stood Toboe with a black and crimson, tri-bladed, poisoned scythe. Quite intimidating actually, when accompanied by a glare and a growl. Toboe channelled chakra to it and swung it, causing it to make a howling noise. "Well, now you know how to find chakra, then it is to learn controlling it. I think we'll start with simply channelling chakra to the different body parts. Oh, and after that, who's in for some tree walking?" She asked cheerfully, ignoring that everyone had hunched over by mentioning all the work they had to do. Even Ran that mystically disappeared and appeared bent over.

**What'cha think? It's longer than the last chapter, but not exactly long if you've read some of the other stories here on Some things may be a little weird, but if you find something that you think is terribly chaotic or something, please tell me so I can fix it. That should be about it.**

**JA NE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi! Sorry that it took some time for me to update, but my laptop is kind of dead. Thus I had to use my dad's computer, and he has to use it quite often, and I didn't get much time to write. Well, I'm done now, anyways. I did a timeskip, as I want things to progress faster. Now read! ^.^**

**DISCLAIMER: I think I already put it somewhere, but of course, I don't own Naruto.**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 5: ****A whole year, already.**

It had been a year now. Each of the animals had gotten lots of interesting training, and they had changed their appearance slightly. Naruto had grown to become ca. 3,28 ft in height, quite abnormal for a fox. Sakura was about as big as a dog, and had a red ribbon on her tail; she also always wore her wristbands. Sasuke had grown to reach the same height as Naruto, if not a little higher. He also had a sword sheath tied to his back, where his tanto resides. Kakashi got an eye patch in black and he is currently 3.94 ft in height. Gaara is the same size as Sakura. Yugito is as big as a large dog and tied her tail up with band-aid, causing it to resemble her former hairstyle. Itachi wasn't very much bigger, but he felt he didn't need it either. Also, in their 5th month of being animals, Toboe found Temari and Kankuro. It was actually quite interesting when she found them.

- Flashback -

Toboe was travelling trough the deserts of Suna. That's when she saw a peculiar sight. A sandy yellow coloured mountain lion was dragging a brown meerkat by its tail. The meerkat was trying to pull itself away from the lion with no success. The lion looked VERY fractious and about to throw the meerkat away. Toboe decided to just shadow them for a while.

"Ah, lemme go! Why do we have to leave now again?" The meerkat groaned. Toboe grinned 'Jackpot' she thought. The lion spoke. "Cuz you actually was enough of an idiot to SPEAK! I mean seriously, you look like an animal, you're not supposed to be speaking! Neither am I, for that matter." It, probably a girl if you listened to her voice, said. Toboe decided to make herself known. She simply jumped into the way in front of the arguing animals.

The lion immediately stopped talking and narrowed her eyes at the wolf in front of them. She let go of the meerkat's tail and snarled threateningly. The wolf grinned. "Hiya! I wondered; would you know where I could find the Sabaku siblings of Suna?" She asked. The lion blinked confusedly. "You can talk? Uh. Well, yeah I know. I'm Sabaku no Temari, and the idiot cowering in the sand is Kankuro. I don't know where our youngest brother is though. Who're you?" Ignoring Kankuro's indignant cries Toboe smiled. "Great! I'm Toboe. I've been looking for you. Trust me; Gaara is almost frantic for me to find you, even though he hides it." She told the two surprised siblings.

Their surprise lasted until it registered in their minds that Toboe knew Gaara. Temari jumped at the wolf, only for Toboe to sidestep her. "Where is Gaara!"

-Flashback- -

So on the way home, both of the Sabaku children had complained. They had been trained on the way too of course. Now, onto more pressing matters. Toboe had waited for this day. It was the day where Itachi finally would be able to change into human again! She had been to Konoha and bought him some extra clothes too. Now, everyone was standing in a half-circle in front of the caves.

Itachi looking as bored as ever was in the middle together with Toboe. "Tell me, why is everyone here?" Itachi asked, his monotone voice the same as Toboe grinned. "Cuz you're going to become a human again! Or at least half…You know, I'm not sure. Just try it! When I change form, my clothes are still on, and I believe yours will be to. Now do it!" She was nearly bouncing with enthusiasm. Ranmantaru shook her head. "You're really crazy, nee-chan." She said. Ran was able to talk as Toboe infused some hanyou/demon chakra into her, also called youki. This in turn also made the young wolf able to transform into a human form.

Everyone else was focused on Itachi as he closed his eyes and concentrated. First nothing happened, and then, slowly, the weasel seemed to stretch out and grow. It looked kind of weird, but in a slow minute, Itachi was standing there in his human form, all his old clothes on. His sharinghan was also on, by some unknown reason. He blinked and then promptly stretched. "Ah, that felt good."

Cue massive face-fault.

"Great Itachi! Now get rid of that Akatsuki cloak and try some of the new clothes!" Toboe, who had changed into her human form, pushed the slightly annoyed Uchiha into one of the caves with a bunch of clothes. Unfortunately for Toboe, Itachi just chose some clothes that looked very like his former clothes. And a trench coat. Every cool guy HAS to have a trench coat. The trench coat was black with red stripes at the bottom and top and had an Uchiha fan on the back, which Toboe had put on. Toboe smirked. "You know what Itachi? Now you have to train in human form…trees, now! You too, guys!" Everyone groaned as Toboe shot towards the numerous trees surrounding their temporary home.

Gaara was walking up and down a tree with a VERY bored expression. At least until Toboe came over to him together with Yugito and Naruto. He jumped down and looked up at the wolf. "What is it?" He asked slowly, hoping that it wasn't another chakra exercise. Toboe grinned. "Your chakra control is good enough so that we can try to use your demons chakra, err, youki now! So we're gonna train on that." All three jinchuuriki practically glowed with enthusiasm.

Toboe guided them to a clearing with some seals on the threes around. "What are those for?" Yugito asked curiously. Toboe grinned. "They're containment seals. They'll keep your youki in this clearing. Now, first you should probably talk to your bijuu's. With another of my seals, I'll be able to follow you into your mindscape. We'll start with Gaara. You two just wait." She instructed them. Shifting into human form and drawing a seal from her pocket, she gave Gaara a go. (That sounded weird. -.-) Gaara closed his eyes and meditated for a while, until his sand formed up around him. Toboe slapped a seal on his forehead just as the sand encased him. Then she sat down and closed her eyes too.

Toboe opened her eyes and blinked a few times. She stood next to Gaara in a giant desert. She looked at Gaara and noticed that here in his mindscape he was in human form. He looked slightly dizzy, so Toboe poked him. "Gaara? You alright? Let's go find Shukaku. That sand-rat should be close." Gaara only nodded and started to move. Toboe followed and soon, they came to a sand prison, which the Ichibi was in. The demon was walking in rings until it noticed its guests. **"Wha-? How'd you get in here? Scratch that, why do my host smell like a tanuki?" **It loomed over the two teens, trying to look scary.

When its snout was pressed up towards the bars, Toboe did something unexpected. She slapped it. The giant sand-coloured Tanuki blinked a few times before jumping back and glaring at the girl. **"What'd you do that for?"** It yelled. Toboe glared back at it. "That's for tormenting Gaara before!" She said with fierce glaring. Then she suddenly becomes all cheery.

Gaara just raised an eyebrow. "Now, over to other matters. Gaara has become a tanuki. Not in here, apparently, but on the outside. And I wish for him to use some of your Youki. Thus, you WILL give it to him! Or I will completely seal you away, so Gaara can just get the youki without your acceptance." All the time shifting between threatening and cheerful. The Ichibi seemed to consider it, while Gaara merely went over to a sand dune and meditated.

Yugito and Naruto started as Toboe woke up with a "Yeah!" Gaara let down the protective sand barrier he had and blinked a few times. Toboe rose up. "Great. 1 done, 2 to go. Your up next Yugito." She said. Yugito grinned and sat down in a meditative form while concentrating. Toboe slapped another seal on her forehead, and they were both sucked into her mindscape. Naruto, in the meantime, was pestering Naruto about details on meeting Shukaku.

Yugito and Toboe appeared in a forest. It was actually very rain-forest like. Yugito smiled. "I think Nibi no Bakaneko is in the forest to the left." She said. Toboe sweat dropped. "You know it's BakEneko, as in Monster cat, and not BakAneko, like idiot cat?" She asked. Yugito blinked. "Oh. I didn't know. Ah well, let's go!" She marched in front, while Toboe skipped after her.

A large cave with seals on the front came into sight. Inside there was a giant, blue-flaming, two-tailed cat. It barely cast a glance at its visitors, before lying down. Yugito smirked at it. "Hiya! Could you pretty please borrow me your youki?" She asked with an innocent voice. The cat frowned. **"Now why would I do that? I was involuntarily put in here, remember?" **It asked. Toboe stepped forward. "Well, it's not Yugito's fault! Oh, and you're not even in Kumo anymore." The big cat seemed to think about it. **"I see. Well, since we're not in that hellhole anymore, I suppose I could give you some. But I warn you, it's going to hurt if you use it to much. Now leave." **

As soon as Yugito woke, she danced a victory dance. Toboe merely found the monster cat way better to deal with than the tanuki. Now over to the fox. Toboe stretched and checked the containment seals before pushing Naruto into the middle of the clearing. As he didn't know how to come to his mindscape, she simply knocked him out. Yugito and Gaara, well mostly Gaara, sat still and watched.

Toboe shook her feet as she had landed in the annoying water in Naruto's sewer-like mindscape. Quickly jumping at the wall and staying there, she watched as Naruto went headfirst into the water. Naruto grumbled something before noticing that he had a human body and beginning to fuss over that. Toboe eventually silenced him with a hit to the head. "Concentrate, Naruto. Kyuubi isn't exactly the nicest of the demons…I think." She said and started going in the direction that glowed slightly.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a gigantic cage. Two blood-red eyes opened to glare at the two humans. **"What do you want ningen (human)? And why is there an extra guest, for once?" **Naruto simply glared, as he didn't know what to say. Toboe narrowed her eyes slightly. "Kyuubi no Youko. Hmph. You don't look like much. And if you can't even give some of your youki to Naruto, then what are you?" She taunted. The eyes of the Kyuubi narrowed before the whole fox came into the light. **"I will have you know, I'm the greatest! And I don't have time to talk to a lowly ningen and a hanyou. But I will show you, my youki reserves are unlimited! The ningen will get as much as he gets." **The fearsome beast retreated into the shadows again to rest. Toboe nodded satisfied before leaving the mindscape together with a confused Naruto.

All three jinchuuriki and Toboe stood inside the clearing. "That went great you guys! Now you can all access your demons youki and train with it. I have some techniques that can be used with youki, but first, you have to have a certain amount of control over it. Try to assemble enough for what you'd get a one-tailed cloak of in human form." She elucidated. The three animals nodded and began to gather youki from their separate bijuus.

Toboe watched in interest as the three of them changed colour. She nearly started to use her own youki as the oppressive youki of the bijuu began to leak out around the trio of jinchuuriki. The youki surrounding Gaara seemed to sink into his fur, and his red pelt changed into sand colour along with purple marks appearing. Yugito gained blue fur with black patterns, and Naruto seemed to struggle slightly with Kyuubi's youki before it sank into him, turning him blood red with sharper claws, and his ears seemed to elongate slightly. Toboe narrowed her eyes as he growled on the two others and on her. 'It seems Kyuubi's youki makes him more aggressive.' She thought.

Sakura looked over at Kakashi and Sasuke, who had began sparring, Kakashi trying to trap the bluish-black panther in a net of ninja-wire, while Sasuke used his tanto to cut the wires and strategically attack Kakashi. "Hey guys, where do you think Toboe went with Naruto and the other two?" Sakura asked. Kakashi stopped in front of the three Sakura was in. Sasuke also stopped, but he leapt up into another tree. "Probably something concerning those demons stuck in their seals." Sasuke said and shrugged.

Kakashi nodded "Most likely, yes. We could go look for them, I suppose. Oh, and where did Itachi go? I haven't seen him since this morning?" He mused. Another character joined their conversation. "I believe Itachi went somewhere else to check his abilities, after having been an animal for two years." The person, a mountain lion, said. Sakura smiled. "Sure. Hey, Temari do you know where Gaara, Naruto and Yugito was taken by Toboe?" The blonde lion shook her head. "Nope. But I saw a clearing with some seals on when I and Kankuro came here." She replied. Another voice interrupted their small conversation. "You know, you could just ask me, right?"

Toboe came walking with the three jinchuuriki behind her. Sasuke looked at them. "Hey…what's with the tail-colour?" He pointed out. Toboe grinned. "It's because of using the bijuu's youki. It's only the tips still though." Naruto's golden fox tail had a red tip, Gaara had a sand-coloured tip and Yugito had a blue tip. Just then, Itachi arrived. "We've got a problem." He stated. Everyone turned towards him. "Now that I'm no longer an animal, my Akatsuki ring can be tracked by the other members of the organisation." This left a bad feeling…

**What'cha think? And soon, there will be more action. But of course, the Akatsuki don't know about Naruto, Gaara and Yugito yet. It'll be hell when they find out though...**

**JA NE!**


	6. Chapter 6

**And here it is, the new chapter. Trouble with Akatsuki!**

**You already know what means Talk, think and all that, right? Good, cuz I ain't writing it up.**

**DISCLAIMER: God, why am I even doing this. I don't own Naruto, never have, never will.**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 6 : **

Toboe looked at Itachi with a deadpan expression. "Well, great. Can't you take of the ring?" She asked. Itachi shook his head and sighed softly. "It is glued on with some sort of special jutsu Pain used." He explained. Temari blinked. "Why don't you just cut of your finger?" She asked. Everyone looked at her. "What!"

Toboe frowned. "Itachi? How fast can they track the ring?" She asked. "Approximately as fast as I can move. They have probably been looking for me for a while as well, so they'd come as fast as possible. I suppose at least Kisame will come looking." Itachi explained. Kankuro came jumping. "Hi! What's everyone looking so down for?" He asked, totally ruining the building of an oppressive atmosphere. Toboe hit him on the head with a paw. "Shut up. I need three voluntary animals. We're going to check the borders of my genjutsu. Meanwhile, you can try getting the ring off, Itachi." She said. Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke stepped forward and followed Toboe as she bounced into the trees. Ranmantaru followed Toboe wherever she went, so she came too.

XXX

"Are you sure this is where Itachi is, un?" A blonde guy that looked faintly like Ino from Konoha, asked. With him were a hunched-over guy with a mask in front of his face, and a tall, blue-skinned man with a bandaged sword. The blue man grinned, showing off sharp, triangular teeth. "Hai. Leader-sama showed me how to search for the rings unique signature. Itachi is somewhere in this forest." He said. The blonde scoffed. "I don't understand why we had to come too. We should be searching for the Ichibi Jinchuuriki.(one tailed's jinchuuriki) Not Itachi, un. He's your partner, Kisame, un." He complained.

Kisame snickered, a somewhat unusual sound. "You're still pissed at Itachi for wrecking your so-called art, Deidara?" He asked. Deidara just huffed and turned his head another way, confirming Kisame's suspicion. Their third companion did nothing but glide along the way with an irritated look in his eyes.

XXX

Toboe growled, irritated. "It's three of them. I believe confrontation will be inevitable, but I will try scaring them off first." She said to the four animals behind. Naruto in particular was glaring at Kisame. "That's the guy that wanted to cut off my legs!" He snarled. Kakashi sniffed in the air. "The hunch-back smells of wood. I believe it might be a puppet. I have seen the blonde in a bingo book. He is Iwa no Deidara. He uses explosive clay, if I'm not wrong. I think he has some clay on him, as it certainly smells that way." He reported.

Toboe nodded. "Ran! You go get Gaara and Yugito, we might need their help. But careful, these guys are after the bijuu." She barked. Ran immediately set off into the woods again. Toboe turned towards her tree subordinates for the moment. "We will try intimidation techniques first. I will be in front, Sasuke and Kakashi behind me. Naruto, I want you to stand by, and if needed, I will give you a signal to come help. Let's move!" She leapt from the tree they stood in, over to another and ran down to the bottom.

Kakashi followed, while Sasuke leapt right down and landed nicely on his feet. Naruto climbed a little higher up in the tree. Everyone was surprised when Toboe closed her eyes to concentrate, and grew to be higher than Kisame, with massive paws, great fangs and a right out fierce appearance. Then she sat out with great speed, but slowing down at times to wait for Kakashi and Sasuke.

XXX

"There's a mountain here, un. How can Itachi be here?" Deidara pointed out. His hunchback partner answered. "It's a genjutsu, idiot." With a somewhat gruff voice. Deidara frowned at being called idiot before putting his hands up to form the release seal. "Kai!"(Release) At first, nothing happened, but slowly, the mountain disappeared to show a thick forest. Just as they were about to continue in, however, they felt the ground shake a little, and barely managed to jump out of the way as a GIANT wolf landed where they stood a second ago. Kisame actually had to look up to it! It growled, a bone-chilling sound, even for battle-hardened, S-rank criminals. Two smaller animals appeared behind the wolf. One was a silver-furred dog with an eye patch; the other was a dark-blue panther with a knife on its back.

Kisame hefted his sword onto his shoulder while grinning, and still managed to look somewhat disgusted. "No animals can get that big. Whoever made this genjutsu, come out!" He yelled. The panther smirked; how it managed to do it is a question for another time. "Itachi's way smarter than you, still." He commented. Kisame raised an eyebrow, speaking illusions wasn't unusual, but the way the panther spoke reminded him off Itachi's little brother. The silver dog merely glared at them. Suddenly, Deidara threw a few explosive birds on "the genjutsu" and was surprised when the big wolf swatted them away with a huge paw before they detonated. "They're not a genjutsu!" He yelled, and jumped away just as the panther took a swipe at him with its tanto in its mouth. The dog used one paw to move his eye patch, and suddenly, Kisame stared right into a Sharinghan eye.

The third person wasn't fast enough to retreat as the gigantic wolf ascended upon him. Claws tore trough wood as if it was butter, and someone suddenly jumped out of the now crushed body. It was a red-head with an angry glare. "You destroyed Hiruko." He stated. Toboe grinned, showing off teeth as big as Sasori's arm. "Your own fault, little puppet boy." She said, her voice darker than normal since she was bigger.

XXX

Gaara and Yugito ran along with Ranmantaru. Both wore concerned, yet determined to take down trouble if needed. They soon came to a tree, and jumped up the where Naruto was watching something intently. They looked the same way as him, and saw Kakashi fighting a blue sushi-man, Sasuke fought a blonde with explosives, and Toboe barely even tried, but still destroyed one of the puppets of the red-haired teen. Gaara narrowed his eyes. "That is Akasuna no Sasori. He shouldn't be this young." He explained to the curious Yugito.

Naruto scoffed. "He doesn't stand a chance against Toboe. It's really cool though, she changed her size!" He exclaimed. Gaara used a small cloud of sand to muffle his shout. "Don't be so loud, Naruto. There are enemies right down there. We're supposed to NOT be noticed." He chided the sulking fox silently.

XXX

Sasuke smirked at the blonde Akatsuki. His tanto was covered with a nearly invisible layer of electricity. Deidara hadn't noticed before he was cut and felt a strong current going trough his body. Deidara was throwing small but fast bird-like creatures at Sasuke, but due to him being a cat-animal, he was having no problems dodging them. And if he couldn't dodge, he cut them in two with his tanto. Raiton is better than Doton after all, and Deidara's clay was obviously something with earth. "Hah, you're too slow." Sasuke taunted. Deidara gritted his teeth and threw lots of clay-spiders at the panther and started to make something bigger. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and leapt over them, but they continued following him.

Kakashi was currently dodging Samehada, Kisame's sword. Kisame was just swinging it around, hoping to hit the silver dog. Kakashi jumped onto a tree, and waited for Kisame to come closer, which he did.

"Katon, Goukakyuu no jutsu!"(Fire style, fire ball jutsu)

Kakashi spit out a big fireball right at the surprised Kisame. Unfortunately, the fish-man shielded himself behind his sword, who took the brunt of the attack. "damn!" Kakashi cursed angrily, and looked over at Kisame. The blue man was grinning and powering up for his own jutsu. "Hehehe, you may be able to use jutsu yourself, but I'm still a human, something which you are not …Kakashi! Suiton, suiryuudan no jutsu!"(water style, water dragon jutsu) He yelled and stood on top of a water dragon assembled from the air, as it went for Kakashi.

Toboe tilted her head as Sasori got a scroll from somewhere and slowly rolled it up. "This is one of my best pu-" He couldn't finish as Toboe lunged at him and promptly stole the scroll. "You shouldn't be so slow, puppet-boy. Every smart enemy can take advantage of that." She scolded the furious red head. "Give that back! This is the Naruto-verse! Every ninja makes long dialogues and shout out their attacks before they do it! It's tradition!" He complained.

Toboe sighed. "Then do something about it! Am I the only smart ninja around here? Oh, wait; I'm not even an official ninja…" She deadpanned, and then raised an eyebrow. "Hey, the others have already started their fights! Do something already!" Toboe demanded impatiently. Sasori gaped like an idiot, before quickly finding one of the less important puppets and sending it at her.

XXX

Up in the tree, four animals looked on the fights with varying interest. Even Gaara sweat dropped at the small skirmish between Toboe and Sasori though. Then suddenly, Ran's eyes lit up with an idea. "Oi! They're here for Itachi, or more like his ring, right? So I'm going to get rid of the ring!" She whispered excitedly. "How are you going to do that?" Yugito wondered, not getting why Ran got so keyed up. Ran grinned deviously. "Just wait…" She replied and leapt of the tree to find Itachi.

XXX

Deidara grinned smugly as he threw his newest creation up in the air and did a hand sign. A cloud of smoke surrounded it, and when it blew away, it revealed a large bird. Deidara jumped onto it and commanded it to fly higher. Sasuke growled and infused enough lightning chakra into his tanto so as to make two chidori's, and swiped it towards the spiders, making an energy arc that sliced them all in two. Then he tried to leap up to the bird, but only grazed its wing with his claws.

Deidara grinned and threw lots of clay-creatures at the blue panther. Sasuke snarled and leapt up again, but this time he didn't let go of the bird, instead hanging from it while trying to climb up. Deidara saw this as an opportunity to kill the annoying cat-animal and made the bird turn upside down. Too bad for him that Sasuke knew how to hold on with chakra. "Gaah, stupid cat, un!" Deidara yelled. Sasuke looked offended. "Oh yeah? Well you're a stupid art freak!" He replied.

Kakashi showed his teeth as he leapt away from Kisame. 'Great, he understood who I am! This might be a problem…' He thought, before breathing in and blowing a small Goukakyuu at Kisame, which was easily dodged, but the fireball wasn't exactly what Kakashi was aiming for… Kisame stumbled as he stepped on a ninja wire, unleashing more wires and soon the fish-without chips- was held up in the air with his sword just out of reach. "If you can't rely on strength, then you must rely on smarts." Kakashi stated and brought forth his poisoned kunai, and threw it at Kisame.

Toboe yawned as she avoided Sasori's puppets with ease. Sasori had narrowed eyes and moved as fast as he could but to no avail. Then suddenly Toboe stopped, and when his puppet shot forward to take advantage of this, she merely smashed it into the ground with a paw. "This is so boring. I know how we can make it more interesting!" She stated happily. Sasori reached for another puppet when the gigantic wolf shrunk, and completely disappeared, showing a brown haired girl with unusual eyes.

"Nani? You're a…a little girl!" Sasori pointed out. Toboe scowled. "I'm not little! For your information, I'm about 200 years old! I just prefer staying in this age!" She growled. Everything grew silent, even the other battles.

'She's 200 years old! WTF!' Was the thought of everyone just then.

Toboe sighed. "Forget it. Sheesh, what's with everyone gaping like that." She grumbled.

Kisame suddenly blinked. "Hey! The signal from the ring is gone!" He said. He would have yelled it, but Kakashi's poison made him drowsy. Sasori nodded. "Great. Then we don't have to fight maniac animals and a 200 years old girl anymore!" He stated, clearly relieved, and with a swift movement, his new puppet cut the wire of Kisame and held him. "Come on, Deidara!" He yelled. Deidara blinked from on top of his bird. "Nani? But I'm almost done, Sasori-Danna, un!" He complained. Sasuke smirked, as he was finally on top of the bird, but it fell as Deidara was commanded down.

Deidara dispelled the bird and landed beside Sasori, while Sasuke jumped up in a tree. Then the three Akatsuki simply left. As soon as they were gone, Gaara, Naruto and Yugito leapt down. Toboe warped into her original wolf form, and seemed content with that. Except for the fact that everyone was staring at her. "What is it!" She demanded with narrowed eyes. "You're 200 years old…? Gaara said, or maybe asked, hard to tell with his monotone voice. Toboe sighed. "Yes I am! Damn it, I'm a hanyou, remember! And 200 are considered to be teenage!" She explained, with an exasperated tone.

Then she turned towards Kakashi. "Oi, Kakashi? Next time bring more lethal poison in that kunai of yours. Now Kisame knows who you are, and soon all the Akatsuki will know. This might also end up in them concluding Naruto's an animal too and then…" She scolded him. Kakashi looked ashamed. "I know. But I usually use my Sharinghan eye when fighting, and he probably recognized me because of that." He explained.

Toboe nodded. "Hai, hai. Just don't let it happen again. Now, let's move to the camp and check on the others and find out how Itachi got rid of the ring."

XXX

When they came back, everything was normal. Temari and Kankuro were training, Sakura was trying to train on med jutsu and everything seemed okay. But Itachi was grumbling about something. Toboe walked towards him. "Hiya, Wazzup Itachi? You got off the ring?" She asked. Itachi glared at her slightly. "Ask your little sister. And please get Sakura over here." He replied. Toboe shrugged. "Sure. Hey, Sakura! Itachi needs some help!" She yelled, and then went over to the cave Ranmantaru was most likely to reside in. "Oi, Ran! You here?" She asked into the darkness.

Two chocolate brown eyes opened in the dark. "Yeah. What is it?" The silver wolf asked as she came out in the light. Toboe yawned and blinked. "Hmm, getting tired already. Ah, anyways, how'd Itachi get the ring off?" Ran grinned sheepishly. "I bit his finger and channelled youki in it! And then the ring exploded into powder! It was cool…but I think it hurt Itachi." She giggled.

Toboe blinked once. Twice. "…You bit Itachi! Oh my god, how hilarious! I should've been there with a camera." She laughed. Ran nodded. "Yep! But It's getting kinda late, Aneki.(big sister) I'm going to sleep." And so, she went back into her cavern. Toboe shrugged, before going to check up on Itachi and the others.

Sakura was using her medic jutsu to heal Sasuke's slight burns, and had already healed Itachi's finger. Itachi was still sulking though. "Okay guys! Get healed up, and then I'd say it's time to get some sleep. You fought well, even though they obviously weren't at full power, those three. Night!"

**Yeah...some might think the fighting scene sucks, but hey, I'm new to this, even though I've been writing for a while, I'm no good at fighting scenes...yet. Especially not if you look at other stories -.- Oh well, I'll try. ^.^**

**Please Review!**

**Ja Ne **


	7. Chapter 7

**And here's the new chapter of Ikimono Shinobi! Next I'll be working on Raised by demons...Anyways, are there anyone else than me that are pissed they have licensed the Naruto manga? They've got no frickin' manga shops here where I live, and now I can't read it on onemanga/mangafox...any manga site at all! It sucks! *Breaths out* Now that that little rant is over, enjoy the story.**

"Talk"

'Think'

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. It's as easy as that.

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 7****: Timeskip-time! Err..?**

Toboe blinked the sleep from her eyes and stretched. 'Hmm. Today…is the day Yugi-chan and Gaara will be able to get into human form…Oh my god!' Suddenly the wolf was wide awake with excitement. She quickly shook herself so her fur laid right and ran out of her sleeping cave. Outside, she could see Ranmantaru, Temari and Naruto. She also heard sound of fighting and assumed the others were training. Temari was in human form for the moment, as she had been able to do it in half a month. Right now, she was licking sun. It was a beautiful day.

Toboe flew right at Temari. "Tema-chan! Where's Yugi-chan and Gaara! Today's finally their day! And I need them to do something for me later…" She said with a smile. Temari sat up, as did Ran and Naruto who just had been dozing off in the sun. "Eh? Really! They're in the left clearing. I'll go get them!" She yelled and in an elegant jump, she turned into a mountain lion and ran away.

XXX

Gaara sighed as he stared at Toboe. The wolf was happily explaining what he and Yugito should do to get back to their human form. "You got it all? I hope so, come on!" She said with a grin. Yugito was looking positively ecstatic and nearly couldn't concentrate. Gaara merely closed his black-rimmed eyes and did as Toboe had told him. It worked. Unfortunately, his clothes were very small and uncomfortable on him now. Toboe just pointed her paw at a cave where there were some new clothes for them.

Temari and Kankuro had also gotten new clothes. Temari wore a dress similar to the one she wore in the chuunin exams, except it had longer arms, and it was alight purple. She also got a trench coat in a sand colour, with the image of herself on the back, but she only used it when it was cold. Right now, it was all too hot. Kankuro had a normal black t-shirt with a picture of a meerkat, himself actually, on the front. Black Shinobi pants with black ninja sandals finished the look. He had a darker sand coloured trench coat, and he used it mostly all the time.

Gaara came out of the cave wearing dark grey pants with straps on the legs, black sandals, a fishnet shirt and a black coat that was closed on top but open lower down. He also had a white textile hanging over his right shoulder and going down diagonally to his left hip and round. This was to fasten his gourd, that he made by simply assembling some of his sand. (It's like the shippuuden clothing style, except he doesn't have the brown strap thing and its black instead of red.) When he came out, Yugito had managed to get into her human form, and she quickly ran inside the cave to find some new clothes too.

Yugito found herself a dark blue – almost black, shirt, with long mesh arms. A set of capris in the same colour as nibi's youki and high-heeled sandals the same colour finished the clothes. Her hair was wrapped up the way her tail had been. Her katana hung at her lower back, ready to be taken at any time. She also found a trench coat with a picture of herself pouncing on a prey. It seemed like it was about to jump out of the coat. "These clothes are really cool!" She decided happily. Gaara smirked, and Toboe grinned.

XXX

"Hey guys, I got an idea." Toboe said and sat down on the ground. She was still in wolf form, though Gaara, Temari, Kankuro and Yugito were in human form. Gaara lifted an eyebrow, meaning she should continue. "You see, in about one month, the chuunin exams will be in Konoha again. And seeing as only Yugito is a chuunin, or rather Tokubetsu jounin, I decided you should take it. With me! Cuz I just want to. You'll have to train your human bodies a little first, but that's okay." She explained. Gaara looked surprised, Yugito excited, Temari sceptical and Kankuro wasn't even listening.

"What will the team be then? We don't have enough to more than one team?" Temari asked. Toboe smirked. "Oh yes, we do. You see, I, Gaara and Yugito will be one team, you, Kankuro and Itachi will be another." She claimed getting weird looks. "Err…isn't Itachi a MISSING-NIN and an ANBU?" Kankuro yelled, trying to get a point across. Toboe blinked. "So? Never heard of henge (transformation) before?" She asked sarcastically. Kankuro flushed but kept silent. Itachi came towards them, having heard Kankuro's yelling.

"What now?" He asked in a little less monotone than he used to. "You're going to the chuunin exams together with Temari and Kankuro." Toboe informed him making nearly making him stumble in a tree root. "What? Why? And why me?" He asked irritably. Toboe chuckled and rose into human form. "Cuz you're one of those that can assume human form. You'll be going in a henge of course. A very special henge. It will be held up by my youki. That way, it can't be sensed or dispelled. You just figure out a name and a look and I'll fix it. And NO you can't back out of this." She chatted happily. Then she pointed at Yugito. "No one knows you, buy for safety reasons; you'll go by the fake name Aoiro Nekotsume. It bears some resemblance to your cat, ne? Except I don't think it has blue claws. Oh well. "

XXX

Yugito tested her flexibility by doing different manoeuvres, like doing handstands, and flipping around. She was surprised to discover that she was much more flexible than she had been before. Gaara was pleased to find out that his speed and agility had improved. Mostly his speed though. He then tried controlling his sand and his control was better too. What was interesting was that now, his sand formed giant paws with claws instead of just a bunch of sand swirling around.

Temari was training with two new fans that Toboe had gotten for her. They were smaller than her former battle fan, but if put together and applied chakra too, they became one big. They had very sharp edges too, and that helped controlling the wind. Kankuro was tinkering with one of his puppets, that he had made himself. It resembled a meerkat, but it was much bigger, had poison-coated claws and various senbon, kunai and shuriken launchers.

Team 7, also known as Team Kakashi were sparring with their weapons, though Naruto was careful with channelling wind chakra, as he didn't want to ruin Sasuke's tanto or Kakashi's kunai. Sakura's chakra sucking arm bands wasn't exactly working on Naruto, due to him having all too much. She could still hit him with her paws though, and thanks to Toboe, who had blackmailed Tsunade into teaching the wolf girl her strength technique, and then taught it to Sakura, it really hurt if she hit you. Toboe was close, looking at everyone, except Itachi who was sulking because he had to take the chuunin exams again.

XXX

Toboe sighed as she looked at Naruto. Kankuro had bragged about going to the chuunin exams, and now Naruto wanted to as well. "I'm sorry, Naruto. No can do. You'll still be an animal in about one and a half month. You can take it next time though. It's not held ONLY in Konoha. Sasuke and Sakura can't take it either." She explained wisely. Naruto still pouted and tried the puppy-eyes though. Or maybe it's whatever-young-foxes-are-named eyes? Who knows..?

"It's no fair! Why couldn't I be transformed before Gaara!" he huffed. Toboe dead-panned. "Cuz the jutsu doesn't work that way. It's got nothing to do with who transforms when. Now-"She was cut off by a scream. Both of them looked to where Sasuke and Sakura were sparring, and saw Sakura getting flung into the wild rivers. Chakra control doesn't matter much when someone is under water unable to get up. Sasuke was staring wide-eyed and seemingly frozen as Sakura tried to get up from the furious masses of water.

Naruto suddenly jumped into action. Literally. With a chakra enchanted jump, he was at the edge of the water immediately. Sakura was quickly being tossed away from them and he had to find a way to get to her. Toboe was watching with narrowed eyes. 'I could help her but…Uzumaki Naruto, show me your brilliance.' She thought seriously. Naruto began concentrating, and soon, a dancing layer of chakra coated his paws. He ran out on the water, the amount of chakra keeping him stable and ran after Sakura.

Unfortunately, fate has it with becoming hard for heroes. Just as he reached Sakura, his chakra control diminished, and he fell down. He yelped, being thrown around wasn't a good feeling, but his eyes shone determined. He applied chakra to his legs, making it easier to move, and swam after Sakura. He then bit her neck, carefully as not to hurt her, and with a fling of his head, she was thrown on land. Naruto swam towards land and soon came to shore as well.

Sakura panted heavily. "I…thought…I…would die!" She gasped tiredly. Then she looked at Naruto with a smile. "Thank you for saving me Naruto." She said, slowly rose and licked him at the snout causing reactions from everyone that had been summoned by Sakura's frightened scream.

'Holy..!' Sasuke thought.

Kakashi blinked and then grinned. 'Hehehe. I should have known it. Hmm…shall I introduce them to Icha Icha?'

'Hmph. From worshipping one boy to another…although I do understand it, seeing as he saved her.' Temari thought while rolling her eyes.

'Eh? What just happened?' Was Kankuro's line of thought.

Itachi simply raised an eyebrow. '…'

Gaara had slightly raised eyebrows, and was happy for his friend.

Yugito looked on with stars in her eyes. 'oh, they're SO cute together!'

Toboe blinked. 'Well…I didn't see that one coming.'

Ranmantaru tilted her head. 'Heh. Funny how such things happens.'

Naruto himself…fainted.

Toboe clapped her hands together. "Well, seeing as most of you are tired, not even awake, or anything else, I say it's time to get some sleep. And I mean it EVERYBODY will go to sleep. You can train more tomorrow or something."

XXX

Naruto blinked a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes. 'Holy hell! Sakura-chan licked me! Isn't that like, like a human kiss?' He thought, astonished. Then his eyes squinted. 'What if it's only a trick...? …Nah! Sakura-chan likes me, Sakura-chan likes me!' He continued singing that fact in his head until he noticed the sun that shone trough a small hole in the cave.

Naruto instantly jumped up and stretched. "Aah, it's morning!" He yelled happily and ran out his red-tipped tail swinging elegantly behind him. As soon as he was out, a paw of sand gripped him. "Naruto. I am meditating. Go make noise somewhere else." The monotone voice of Gaara requested as the sand let go of the blonde fox. Naruto grinned. "Sure, will do! I'm gonna go train with running at the water while making Kage Bunshin (Shadow clone) of myself!" He yelled and left.

Gaara sighed. After Naruto relearned the Kage Bunshin with his animal form, he had used it frequently and it annoyed the hell out of everyone else. Suddenly, his sand shield rose up, and he looked at Yugito, who had tried to tackle him but ended up with a mouthful of sand instead. "Why do you continue trying to do that?" He asked, slight amusement hidden under his mask of boredom. Yugito spit out sand with a grimace. "Cuz I one day will find a way around that sand of yours!" She exclaimed. Gaara deadpanned. "…and you do that by launching yourself at it in slow speed?" He asked. Yugito just huffed.

Soon, Temari came, at the moment in lion form, and then Kankuro came yawning and blinking tiredly. After them, Itachi came out from his cavern looking as awake, or not, as usual. Sakura and Sasuke arrived together with Kakashi, as their caves were a little bit away from the others. Naruto's too actually, but he had so much speed, and noise that it didn't do anything. Toboe and Ranmantaru were the last ones to come.

"So…why was that idiot Naruto making so much noise, AGAIN?" The wolf asked irritably. Everyone else just sighed and looked towards where Naruto was happily running at water and sparring with his clones. Ran smirked. "Maybe because Sakura licked him yesterday?" She proposed with a humorous glint in her eyes. Sakura suddenly blushed so bright pink that her fur couldn't hide it. "I…uh…err…" She stuttered hopelessly. Kakashi chuckled. "Who'd a thought so? THE Sakura can't find anything to say?" He commented with a smile.

Laughter rang trough the forest, and Naruto came bouncing towards them. "Hi, everyone's awake! So what are you laughing for?" He asked. Toboe raised an eyebrow, marched over to the fox and hit him hard on top of the head with a paw. "That's what you get for being so loud! Everyone has sensitive ears, baka!" She growled before putting on a smile again. Or rather a smirk. "Now, why don't we leave the two lovebirds alone, ne?" She suggested and leapt away while snickering. The others followed her example until only Sakura and Naruto were left.

"Eh, what did she mean by that?" He asked, completely clueless. Sakura sighed and put her paw on her forehead. "Nevermind, Naruto-kun." She said. Naruto would have forgotten it if it wasn't for one small detail… "Naruto-KUN? Wasn't I Naruto-baka or just Baka?" He blinked. Sakura blushed slightly. "Err. Whatever. Let's go train." She concluded and quickly left. Naruto tilted his head. "Nani? (What?)" He commented before shrugging and running to continue his training.

XXX

In another clearing, both Gaara and Yugito were in human forms, along with Toboe, Itachi and the two other Sabaku siblings. "So, Itachi! Found a name you can go with? We'll try out the henge to see it works." She said. Itachi sighed. "Yes. My name will be Akame. Naibun Akame." He revealed. Toboe raised and eyebrow and then smirked. "Secret Red eye? Fine. Now concentrate on Akame's looks and perform a henge. I'll push youki into you at the same time. It might hurt a little…" She explained. Itachi nodded.

"Henge." He said. Toboe touched him carefully and channelled some youki into the henge. Itachi cringed slightly but stood still. Then, in a poof of smoke, he had become Naibun Akame. Toboe even altered his voice a little. The character Akame looked nothing special. He had black pants with tape at the bottom, a mesh shirt, a reddish brown jacket that went to his elbows, with band-aid covering the rest of his arms, and a black, blank hitai-ate. His hair was a dark grey, in a cut resembling Naruto's haircut but with less, and shorter spikes. His eyes were active Sharinghan, but the tomoes were hidden by genjutsu. His face was normal, if a bit pale, and had a scar under the right eye down to the jaw.

Toboe jumped happily. "Yayz, it worked! Akame look great!" She exclaimed. The others agreed, but less enthusiastic. Itachi sighed. "hn." He merely grunted. Toboe stuck her tongue childishly out at him and then grinned. "Well, we'll have to train, if we shall be able to come trough the chuunin exams! Err…okay, maybe not. But still, training is good for you. Ikuzo! (Let's go!)"

**...What'cha think? Please review. ^.^ **

**Ja Ne. :3**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's another chapter! :3**

**I got some help from some nice reviewers and now I can read Naruto again! ^.^ Lately, I've been reading Bleach too, but I still like Naruto better...**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, ya moron.**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 8: ****Meeting those annoying rookies again…**

Toboe sighed as she walked trough the market in Konoha. Just later today, they would come to participate in the exams, but she wanted to buy some extra gear first. Suddenly her keen ears picked up the sound of something running her way.

"I'm not a demon! Stop chasing me! I'm just normal! ...Somewhat normal anyways." Someone yelled. Intrigued, Toboe leapt up on one of the ropes hanging over the road. What she saw made her scowl slightly. A crowd with at least 20 people were chasing a dog. A puppy actually. She jumped down just after the dog had run past and stood in front of the crowd.

"Whatever do you think you're doing to a little puppy?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. One of the villagers, a man in his thirties, stood forth. "That's no dog! It's a demon! It can talk!" He clarified. Toboe looked at him with a deadpan stare. "I'm talking. Am I a demon?" 'well, yeah I am, but still…' She thought. The man gaped at her. "No, I'm not. Now, scram." She said and simply turned around and continued walking towards the gates.

One of the people in the crowd threw a knife at her, but she simply span around and cut it with a kunai, while flashing a hitai-ate to the people, so they understood that she was a shinobi, and left her alone.

XXX

Just as Toboe were outside the gates to Konoha, she once again heard running and turned around. It was the puppy. Now she could see it wasn't as small as she thought. I reached up to a little over her knees. Its colours and patterns suggested it was a border collie. It had black and white fur, with various shades of grey where the black became white. It had strikingly blue eyes and a blue g-key (Err. That's the right over translation from Norwegian. I'm not sure if that's what it's named. It's the thing before some notes if you use a sheet with notes.) On it's right tight. It also had a black collar and an armband exactly like the collar on its right front leg.

"What'cha want?" Toboe asked nonchalantly with a smile. The dog grinned up at the wolf girl. "You smell like wolf! And wolves are cool. I wish I were a wolf. But I'm a dog. And everyone hates me because I can talk. Can I come with you to wherever you are going?" All this was said in one breath and Toboe blinked stupidly. "Sure. I live out in the forest with my friends though. You sure you can handle that?" She asked. The dog nodded wildly. "Aa. I'm a dog after all. My name's Hannah!"

XXX

Gaara stared at the dog sitting in front of him. "Hannah? …what an unusual name." He stated. Hannah pouted. Well, as well as a dog can pout. "Everyone else has weirder names than me. Besides, I'm not from around here." She explained. Yugito, who sat at Gaara's left side, studied the dog. "Yeah. You don't look like a species of dog I've seen before. Anyways, my name's Yugito!" She introduced herself. Hannah grinned, making her eyes shimmer slightly.

Itachi, still in his henge of Akame, came towards them. "We are about to leave. Toboe, Kankuro and Temari wait in the main clearing." He explained. Gaara nodded while Yugito jumped up with a smile. Hannah looked intrigued. "You're gonna leave? Where?" She asked. Gaara began walking and Hannah followed. "…We're going to a test. Of fighting." The red-haired boy said. Hannah gaped slightly. "Ooh! Can I come with you! Pretty please!" She asked.

"It's kind of dangerous." Toboe, who fastened a pouch on her leg said. The others nodded in agreement. "You're too small too." Kankuro added. Hannah frowned and growled. "I'm not small! I'll show you!" She yelled, and began to howl. Her howl seemed to be some sort of melody. It was fast and somewhat…aggressive? And while she howled, Hannah's fur began to frazzle and gain a red tint and she seemed to grow.

Kankuro quickly backed off. "No, no! You're not small! I'm smaller than you, anyways!" He declared. Hannah quit her howling and panted slightly. "Yeah! I might not have mastered it yet, but I can grow really big! And then I'm red instead of white too!" She said proudly. Temari raised an eyebrow. "You used your howl as some kind of medium…can you do other things too?" She asked curiously.

Hannah nodded. "Yeah. It depends on what kind of melody I use! If I howl a lullaby, I can get everyone else to sleep." Yugito narrowed her eyes. "So…you're telling us your howl as some kind of genjutsu effect? Cool! Ne, Toboe? Can't Hannah come too!"

"…Sure. But she is with us. From now on and until the exams are over, me Gaara and Yugito are Team Gihen (Deception) and Itachi, Temari and Kankuro are team Meisai. (Disguise)"

XXX

In Konoha, Kiba suddenly shivered. "Oi…Shino? Do you think these exams will be tough?" He asked to his teammate, who nodded slightly. "Yes. It is logical that there will be many competitors, and they may have changed the tasks from what they were last time we took the exams." He explained. Hinata sat against a tree. "I-I'm sure we'll m-make it." She encouraged, though the effect was kind of lost since she stuttered.

Somewhere else, Ino and Chouji met their new temporary genin to take the exams. Ino gritted her teeth as she saw who it was. "Ami." She said with a small nod. The purple haired girl smirked. "Heh, you're as ugly as always, flower girl." She taunted. Ino glared at the other girl. "I'm only tolerating you now because we need a third genin to take the exams. But afterwards…" She smirked sadistically and showed Ami a kunai with an exploding tag. Poor Chouji stood at the sidelines just looking at the quarrelling girls.

XXX

Later, Team Gihen and Team Meisai were nearing Konoha. Just a little while ago, they had started walking on the main road instead of in the trees, as Hannah had gotten tired. "Stupid dog hasn't even gotten any stamina." Kankuro grumbled, forgetting about said dog's sensitive hearing. A growl later and Kankuro sported a lump at the back of his head, courtesy of Temari's twin fans.

Slowly, the six people and one dog could see the gates into Konoha rise. "Okay. Now, for all the more fun, Team Gihen, I'm going to act…a little unusual while in Konoha. Mostly to get others to underestimate us, since I am the leader and it is assumed that I am the strongest. And if I'm stupid, then the others are probably stupid too, right? Heh." Toboe explained. Yugito, Gaara and Hannah nodded. Temari and Kankuro turned towards 'Akame' who frowned. "I'm leader. Do as I tell you and it will work out. We will work on looking tough but not unbeatable, until the time for battle comes." He said. Temari and Kankuro nodded.

"Can I play uncaring?" Kankuro asked hopefully.

"No. That's Temari. You're the brute force. With no brain."

XXX

After having been checked by the gate guards, the two teams were allowed inside. Kankuro's eyes lit up as he saw a kid with brown hair run towards them without looking where he was running. It was the same kid from two years ago! Quickly, without being noticed, or so he thought anyways, he slipped in front of the kid.

"Oof! Watch where ya goin' ya brat!"

Temari sighed. "I'll take care of it. You others go around gather information." She said and went towards Kankuro. Akame disappeared in a flicker of speed. Toboe shrugged. "I wanna check the competition. Following?" She asked her three followers. They just shrugged and went after her.

Kankuro stood with a sneer in front of the kid. The boy scowled. "You should watch where you are go-…" He was interrupted by a fan that was thrown at Kankuro and after hitting bounced back to a woman's hand. "Quit being stupid. Akame will have your head." She announced. Kankuro actually pouted. "Why do you keep ruining my fun!" He asked. The woman, Temari rolled her eyes and merely went over to the kid. "You better watch what you are doing next time. Seriously, what are the chances of this happening twice?" And then she was gone. The kid blinked. "Where'd she go? And what did she mean by twice…?"

"Konohamaru-kun! We got Tora! Let's go to the mission office!" A girl's voice announced and Konohamaru quickly ran to meet the girl. Kankuro was left in the now empty road before Akame appeared in front of him. "Let's go." He simply said.

XXX

Kiba sniffed the air slightly. He smelled some new smells. That was probably the competitors to the exams. But then he suddenly smelled something else. Animals. He quickly looked around before running after the smells.

It wasn't long before he saw a team of unknown ninja. All three of them had blank hitai-ate's and a dog that followed them had a scarf with the kanji for "Melodious forest" One of the ninja made him shiver slightly. "G-Gaara!" He exclaimed. Said redhead turned around to regard him. The blonde with him turned too. "Eh? You know Gaara?" She asked curiously. Kiba nodded slightly. "Yeah. I do. But who are you? Where are Gaara's siblings?" He asked. The girl grinned. "I'm Aoiro!" She introduced herself. "My siblings are on another team." Gaara answered the second question.

The dog walked up to him. "You smell like a dog. I like dogs! That may be because I'm a dog myself but whatever. I'm Hannah." Kiba blinked stupidly at her introduction. "Cool. I'm Kiba. Inuzuka Kiba." He answered. The last person turned and Kiba suddenly felt lost in her eyes. Pupil-less amber eyes which seemed to look into your soul. Her serious expression was ruined when she grinned, but she obviously didn't care. "My name's Toboe! And I'm the leader of the team!" She said.

Kiba frowned. "But…shouldn't Gaara be the leader? I mean, he is like super strong, no offense to you." He inquired. Gaara and Yugito smirked. "Since you already know Gaara, and I find you likeable, I'll tell you one thing. Our team name is Gihen." Toboe said, and something in her voice made Kiba understand immediately.

When Toboe and her team were gone Kiba blinked. "She had the voice of an alpha…I bet she can be even scarier than kaa-san! (Mom)" He said to himself.

XXX

Meanwhile, Team 10 was taken over by Ami. She had immediately decided that she should be the leader, and as such she was bossing Ino and Chouji around, but to no avail as they didn't listen to her. Suddenly they saw a foreign team. Ami immediately marched to them. "Halt! Where is your ID?" She demanded. The one leading the team, a boy with red eyes, turned and glared at Ami. She smirked. "This is our village, and as such you have to show ID to be allowed here!" She explained. Temari rolled her eyes but didn't do anything else. Kankuro merely scowled. His head still hurt after Temari had hit him with her fans.

Akame's eyes suddenly fixated on Ami's eyes, and she screamed. Temari looked at Akame, who merely whispered. "Magen, Narakumi no jutsu.(Demonic illusion, Hell viewing jutsu.)" Temari's eyes widened. To execute such a genjutsu only by the use of his eyes…sure, it was only a d-rank genjutsu, but when someone like Itachi used it, it could become incredibly dangerous. Now Ino, who had stood by the side, came forward with a frown on her face. "Stop it. I need her to pass the exams." She said. Akame turned away from Ami and nodded. Not speaking. With a snap of his fingers, the genjutsu was extinguished.

XXX

"Ne, Toboe? What if there are any teams from Kumo here? While I may have changed my name, that doesn't change my look." Yugito asked. Toboe shrugged. "Why don't you ask them?" She said and pointed at a team consisting of two girls and a boy. They had Kumo hitai-ate. The first thing Yugito thought was to flee, but then she saw who it was. "Eh? That's…" She was interrupted when the boy noticed them. He jumped. "Yugito? No. It's probably a trick. Making me think it's one of my friends so they can kill me. Or maybe they want me to get in love? Or…" The boy was hit on the head by the dark-skinned girl. "Oh shut up, Omoi!" She yelled.

"…He's very…paranoid. I think." Gaara mentioned. Yugito scoffed. "He's just an idiot." She stopped talking when the light-skinned girl turned towards them. "Who are you to talk about my team like that?" She asked with narrowed, cold eyes. Yugito matched the eyes with cold eyes of her own. "My name…at the moment it is Aoiro." She answered icily.

The girl stared for a while then smirked slightly. "Hmm. Why are you in Konoha, Yugito?" She asked. Yugito grinned slightly. "I'm going to take the exams of course, Samui." She replied. The boy, Omoi, blinked. "Oh! You ARE Yugito after all." He said. The girl that hit him gaped. "Yugito! Where the hell have you been! You just disappeared two years ago!" She demanded.

Yugito made a grimace. "I…I've been training. But enough about that. Meet my team! This is-." "My name is Sabaku no Gaara." Gaara said in monotone. "Sabaku…? Oh, you're from Suna then?" Omoi asked. Gaara nodded slightly. "I'm Toboe!" Toboe said with a grin. The dark-skinned girl blinked. "So…why are you with one loser and another loser?" She asked.

All the while, poor Hannah stood forgotten beside Gaara.

"Keh, who's the loser? I bet you can't win in a spar against Yugito!" Toboe announced. The brash girl paled slightly. "Win against Yugito? Are you out of your mind! She's a jin-." She stopped talking when killer intent flooded the area. Gaara was glaring at the girl. He had put on his 'scary face' as Naruto called it, which was wide-open eyes and slightly tilted forehead, causing the shadows to appear slightly different. The girl gritted her teeth and sweat-pearls appeared on her forehead.

"Enough, Gaara." Toboe's sharp voice cut trough the KI like knife trough butter. As soon as Gaara quit expressing KI however, she was back to her cheerful personality. Samui had slightly wide eyes. "Wha-? Gaara is strong enough to freeze Karui… and yet that Toboe girl…Exactly how strong is your team, Yugito?" She asked the blonde-haired girl. "Well, me and Gaara is about the same, Toboe…I don't know. She's never gone all out on us."

"Such KI…are you a jinchuuriki as well, Gaara-san? Is that why you reacted so strongly to Karui's statement?" Omoi asked, while offering a lollipop to Hannah. Gaara's eyes were slightly narrowed. "Yes." He simply answered. Omoi shrugged. "Oh. Well, Karui didn't mean anything by it, ya know? It's just that usually, if one of us might win, Yugito would start using the Nibi's chakra. Thus, we never won." He explained. Gaara relaxed somewhat after hearing that.

"It's not long before we shall meet up outside the Konoha ninja academy now. Come on! I look forward to seeing you again, Kumo team." After those words, Toboe suddenly began running. Hannah immediately followed, sucking on a strawberry-flavoured lollipop, while Gaara began running after them and Yugito waved to her friends. "Please call me Aoiro next time; it's what I'm supposed to be named while in town!" She called before disappearing in a burst of speed.

XXX

Tsunade looked over the papers on who should participate in the exams.

A team from Kumo, consisting of Samui, Karui and Omoi, no last names.

Two teams from Suna, consisting of… (Don't care about making Ocs just for the exams.)

No teams from Iwa.

Three teams from Kiri.

Two teams from Konoha, consisting of Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino. And the other team is Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji and Ami.

There were also some teams from Kusa, Taki, Ame, and Getsu.

Lastly there were two teams without a village, consisting of Naibun Akame, Sabaku no Kankuro, Sabaku no Temari. And Aoiro Nekotsume, Sabaku no Gaara and Toboe.

'Those last teams…I will need to check them out. They are suspicious. Having no village.'

**Done. ^.^ I changed the age on team Samui too. Since I wanted Yugito to have some friends from before. **

**Please review! It's nice to know if something seems wrong or whatever.**

**Ja ne.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's the next chapter of IS! This is the longest chapter I have written yet... Enjoy reading. ^.^**

"Talk" 'Think' (Translation, AN)

**DISCLAIMER: Why would I own Naruto? Duh, get out of your fantasy world...XD**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 9:**** Chuunin exams**

Toboe looked at the ANBU that stood in front of her and her team. He was quite tall, and had a tiger mask. "Could you please come with me? Hokage-sama wishes to see you." He asked. Toboe tilted her head and grinned. "Sure thing! Come on, Gaara, Aoiro, Hannah." She replied and followed Tora as he went towards the Hokage tower.

Once inside, Tora left them outside of the Hokage's office. "Just knock and you'll be allowed in as long as Hokage-sama isn't busy." He said, and poofed away. Toboe shrugged and knocked on the wooden door. "Come in." A voice sounded from the other side. Toboe opened the door and went in, Gaara, Yugito and Hannah following. Gaara closed the door with a wisp of sand.

Inside, Toboe was not surprised to see team Meisai (Disguise) already there. Tsunade, the Hokage, looked up at them all, and her eyes widened slightly. "You! Brown-haired girl! You're the same one that knew where team 7 were!" She shouted. Toboe nodded. "Yup." She merely answered. The others kept silent, preferring to let this play out on its own.

"Where are they? Tell me now, or I'll ban you and your team from the chuunin exams." Tsunade threatened. Toboe shrugged. "It doesn't matter. But they're in the forest, training. It's hidden with a genjutsu of my own making." She answered with a fair tone. Tsunade didn't detect any lies and proceed to the next she wanted answer to.

"Who are your teammates?" She asked. Toboe stretched. "The blonde with pigtails, the brown-haired boy and the red haired boy are siblings. They're Sabaku no Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. The grey haired boy is Naibun Akame. That's not his real name, but if I told you who he is, you would freak out. The other blonde is Aoiro Nekotsume. That's not her real name either, but I just don't wanna tell you. The dog is Hannah. And me? I'm Toboe. That simple."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed some when Toboe wouldn't tell her who Akame and Aoiro were, but she couldn't fault the…genin? Or something else? For being careful.

"Hm…what are your intentions here in Konoha?" She asked seriously. Toboe let go of her cheerful personality for a moment. "We're here to take the exams. Nothing else. And when Team 7 is done training they will return. At least I think so. Oh, and we want to have a karaoke contest! I love singing!" At the end, her demeanor changed back again. Tsunade sighed. "Very well, you may go."

XXX

Outside, Toboe was skipping happily away. Gaara sighed, and followed. Yugito ran after them both, together with Hannah. Itachi, or Akame, shrugged and turned to Temari and Kankuro. "We find our hotel." He simply said and began walking slowly. Kankuro looked miserable, while Temari rolled her eyes and followed.

While team Meisai settled down in their hotel, team Gihen was sightseeing. Or rather, Toboe was sightseeing. The others just followed her. Suddenly, she stopped and looked up in a tree. "Yo, ANBU-san? Can't you come down! I'm bored!" She stated. Yugito and Hannah looked up in surprise, while Gaara wasn't surprised, and thus didn't act like it either.

The ANBU in the tree jumped down and simply looked at Toboe. It was Tora again. "What were you doing in the tree?" Toboe asked curiously. "I was keeping surveillance." He said shortly. Toboe pouted. "Oh, and I thought Hokage-sama liked me…" She commented childishly.

Tora twitched. "If you don't mind, I must go back to keeping surveillance." He said. Toboe shook her head, and was about to say something, but Gaara interrupted. "Just go. Don't mind Toboe…she's more or less crazy…but in a good way." He said. Tora twitched, again, and poofed away.

XXX

After having been dragged to their hotel by Gaara and Yugito, and having a good night sleep, Toboe was in tip-top condition. Now wait…how did she even get any sleep? That's easy, she was genjutsu'ed to sleep by Hannah.

Now, let's go back to the story…

"Come on, come on! Hurry up already!" The brown-haired hanyou yelled at her friends. Yugito yawned. "Yeah, yeah." She said, still not completely awake. Gaara was already awake, as he couldn't sleep. Hannah was stretching and nearly tripping in the scarf that Toboe gave her before they left the forest.

"Where are we supposed to meet up?" Hannah asked. Toboe shrugged. "The academy." She said carelessly. "When?" This time Toboe seemed to think over it. "Hm…in two minutes." She replied happily. Now, everyone was up. "WHAT!"

XXX

Gaara, Yugito and Hannah glared at Toboe, who seemed totally oblivious. They had just made it to the exam before they closed it. They turned their attention forwards when a man wearing the normal shinobi clothes and a bandana on his head arrived. He was chewing on a dango stick or something.

"Hello. I'm Shiranui Genma and I'm your examiner for this test. It is an information-gathering test so listen closely. All the teams will get a person that live in Konoha. You have to find that person and get as much information as possible about him or her as possible. You must also make a detailed report about what they do from when you find them to 09.00 p.m. Oh, and don't forget; you mustn't get caught."

Some teams were wide-eyed, while others didn't seem to care. Toboe was grinning. Team after team was given a small note by Genma with a name on it. When it was Toboe's team, they got a note with a simple name: Mitarashi Anko. Toboe blinked. "That was unexpected. Let's go!" She stated and ran out from the classroom.

Team Meisai got Umino Iruka. Akame nodded to himself and went out. Kankuro and Temari followed as quickly as possible.

XXX

Team Gihen was up on the academy roof. "So, what do we know of Anko?" Toboe asked. Yugito shrugged. "Never met her. She's in the bingo book though. Snake mistress of Konoha." She clarified. Hannah just shook her head. Gaara smiled slightly. "She is very sadistic. She's not afraid to reveal her body, and she has a fetish for licking blood."

"That's kind of disturbing…but who cares. Let's find this Anko!"

XXX

One purple haired kunoichi sat on a bench, happily eating dango. She was looking subtly around while doing so. 'Keh. Someone is spying on me…now if only I could find them!' She thought. A sudden movement in the bushes, and a dog fell down from a tree. Very normal…now wait, what?

Anko looked at the dizzy dog with a raised eyebrow. "Why were you up in a tree?" She asked herself, and started when the dog answered. "Cuz I could. And I happen to like trees, thank you very much!" The black and white furred dog said indignantly.

Anko deadpanned. "You're one of those that are spying on me aren't ya?" The dog seemed to panic. "No! No way, why would I spy on you? I mean…" It was silenced when a brown haired girl fell from another tree, onto the dog. "Hush you!"

XXX

Akame, Kankuro and Temari were bored to death. Umino Iruka did nothing out of the ordinary, and was simply very boring. "I wish we could of gotten another person…" Kankuro sighed, and was bonked on the head by Temari. "Be silent, and let's continue our assignment." She whispered dismissively.

XXX

Over with team Gihen, Toboe had just explained to Anko to they weren't spying, merely investigating. Which didn't make Anko do anything else than shrug. "Meh, you're from the chuunin exams, huh?" She stated. Toboe blinked. "Yah. What's it to you?" She replied. Anko huffed. "Well, you're spying on ME. But whatever. Spy all you want. If you manage to get trough this exam, I'll get to show you the forest of death!"

Toboe and Hannah looked at each other and disappeared into the bushes again. Anko chuckled.

XXX

It was the end of the exam. Quite many teams were left though. There was one team from Suna, two teams from Kiri, both Konoha teams, all the Ame teams, one team from Kusa, no teams from Taki and Getsu, and the Kumo team. They delivered their reports, and got a message to get some rest before the next part of the test.

Akame, Temari and Kankuro looked ready to drop, though Akame hid it well.

XXX

Next day, after a good breakfast, all the teams met up at the classroom again. This time, another examiner was there. Team Gihen winced when she grinned predatorily at them. "Alright, listen up! You lot follow me to the next exam!" She yelled and leapt out right trough the window. Some people looked dumbly after her, while others ran after her as fast as possible.

Toboe grinned as she and her friends ran after Anko in their animal forms. "Yahoo! We'll rule this exam!"

XXX

All the teams stood in front of a large forest with a fence around. Well, all except an Ame team that was too slow. Anko waved her hands to get their attention. "Yo! Attention this way! I have to explain what you're going to do in there! Oh, and sign the waver that will be passed out." She said.

Everyone signed their wavers and handed them in again. The teams looked expectantly at Anko. "Okay. In the forest, there will be two types of teams. Predator teams, and prey teams. The prey teams have to get to the tower with two scrolls. The predator teams have only one scroll, and need two to gain access to the tower. You get it?" People nodded.

"There's one more thing…you won't be in your own teams. Only two persons will make up a team, and it will all be random. This test is to see how well you can work with shinobi other than your own teammates! Now, when your name is shouted, come to the tent, and you'll get either one or two scrolls."

XXX

The teams were as follows:

Akame and Ino. Predator team.

Temari and Omoi. Predator team.

Kankuro and Ami. Prey team.

Yugito and Samui. Prey team.

Gaara and Hinata. Predator team.

Toboe and Kiba. Predator team. Hannah followed them as well.

Shino and Karui. Prey team.

Chouji and an unimportant genin from Kusa. Prey team.

And the others were unimportant.

"Yosh! Get to your gates!" Anko shouted, and people moved to their places. "Ready?" "Go!"

XXX

Akame shot into the forest. Ino followed quickly, but slightly slower. "Oi! Akame-san, slow down! I can't follow!" She yelled. Akame looked at her trough the corner of his eye, and nodded slightly before slowing down somewhat.

XXX

Temari ran in until she came to a high tree. She ran up and waited for Omoi. The kenjutsu-using strategist arrived soon. "What kind of strategy should we use? We could make traps, but then maybe we'll go into our own, or someone might get hurt, or…" Omoi mumbled. Temari raised an eyebrow and bashed him on the head with one of her fans.

"We'll first find a prey team. Then we may consider what to do." She decided. Omoi shrugged and followed her lead.

XXX

Kankuro ran in the gate, but stopped when he noted Ami having great trouble following. "Great, I get a rag doll to protect the scroll." He said. Ami heard it and screeched. "What do you mean by that!" Kankuro sighed, and with a couple of finger movements, Ami was bound and gagged with blue chakra threads. "You be silent." He stated and ran towards the tower, Ami floating after.

XXX

Yugito ran into the trees, careful not to outrun Samui. "Oi Samui! I know how to get to the tower pretty quickly." She stated. Samui raised an eyebrow. "How?" She simply said. Yugito bit her lip. "Do you trust me?" She asked. Samui nodded. "Good. Don't tell this to anybody." Yugito began to change, quickly into her cat form.

While she wasn't very big, she had learned a jutsu from Toboe that made her even larger. So she was currently the size of a horse. Samui gasped. "What the hell have you been learning these couple of years?" She wondered. Yugito shrugged. "Something. Hop on, I'm much faster in this form."

XXX

Gaara and Hinata ran into the forest, Gaara with a determined expression, Hinata scared of Gaara. Once they were in the forest, Gaara stopped. "Hinata-san. I can tell you are frightened by me. Do not fear. I shall not attack you. I will even go as far as to protect you if necessary." He stated. Hinata nodded meekly. "T-Thank you." She said. Gaara smiled slightly and began running again.

XXX

Toboe grinned savagely as she ran trough the gates. Kiba grinned too, Toboe's enthusiasm carrying over. "Let's go! This'll be a piece of…chocolate cake!" She yelled. Kiba face faulted. "What the hell?" He mumbled. Toboe stuck her tongue out. "I'm random! Get used to it, boya. (And no, it is not written wrong. It means boy, but it is in Japanese. Toboe is teasing Kiba.)" She yelled happily. Kiba couldn't but grin himself. Hannah watched with a grin.

"You know, you're kind of awesome." He stated. The wolf girl laughed and set off again. "Let's find a prey team!"

XXX

Shino and Karui ran into the forest. Karui looked at the silent boy from the corner of her eyes. "So…how do we keep the predators off of us?" She asked. Shino made a thinking sound. "I believe we should lay out false trails." He said. Karui grinned. "No problem! Rai bunshin!" She yelled, and ten bunshin appeared.

Shino looked intrigued. "I've never heard of that type of bunshin before." He stated. Karui grinned. "Our sensei made it. If it's dispelled, it'll give a blast of electricity at the one who dispelled it." She explained. With a nod, the clones split up to lay fake trails.

XXX

Chouji and the Kusa genin ran to the tower as fast as possible. The kusa genin would occasionally make some poisoned traps and lay the around, while Chouji used his Bubun Baika no jutsu (Partial expansion jutsu) to protect him while he lay them out.

XXX

Akame glared slightly at the Ame shinobi in front of him. He was holding a kunai to Ino's throat, while his teammate was advancing on him. Suddenly, Ino's frightened expression turned into a smirk, and she used her unnatural agility to bend away from the dangerous knife, turned around and kicked the genin in his crotch. "Aah! My family jewels!" He yelled.

Akame, Ino and his teammate looked incredulously at him, before Akame caught the teammate in a genjutsu, and Ino knocked out the one she had been captured by. "Well, we have the scroll we need. Kind of stupid that they were a prey team, considering their choice of action." Ino commented. Akame nodded, and they were on the move again.

XXX

Temari and Omoi were over the heads of an unsuspecting suna genin, and her kusa teammate. "Well? Any good ideas?" Temari asked Omoi. The boy with the lollipop sighed. "Ambush?" He answered half-heartedly. Temari shrugged. "Sure."

They hid a couple meters in front of the enemy genin. Omoi silently grabbed his sword, while Temari joined her fans together to the big one. "When they're close enough, you scare them over to me, then I'll use my fan." Temari explained. Omoi nodded, and sneaked behind them.

Once close enough, he slid his sword out of the sheath with an audible 'Shing!' sound. The genin turned around, and was met with Omoi's wide-open eyes. "…Boo." The kumo genin said, and watched, amused, as they screamed and ran towards Temari.

Temari had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. 'Of all things! How pathetic!' She thought. They came close to her, and she stood up. "Kamaitachi no jutsu! (Sickle weasel jutsu.)" She shouted, and waved her fan, making a tornado shaped wind.

The genin was caught up in it, and with a little movement with her fan; Temari moved the wind so it cut them up enough to throw their scroll out with her wind. She closed the fan, and the technique ended. They landed with a heavy thump. Omoi calmly picked up the scroll and they left.

XXX

Kankuro sighed as he showed an enemy nin the finger. What the opposing nin didn't think of, was that Kankuro was actually a puppeteer…Suddenly the enemy was bound tightly in chakra strings. Some twitches, and Kankuro was effectively choking him. The choked nin's teammate watched on in fascination and horror, before screaming and running back into the forest.

Ami was still gagged, but she wasn't struggling, thanks to seeing Kankuro choke the other ninja. Kankuro continued on his merry way with Ami floating after.

XXX

Samui enjoyed the wind as it caressed her face. Yugito was running very fast, and they could already see the doors to the tower. Jumping over a tiger that attacked, and throwing a ball of fire at it, courtesy of Yugito, they were there. Yugito shifted back again, and she and Samui went in with content expressions.

XXX

Gaara looked dissatisfied at the two genin he just beat up with his sand paws. They had been another predator team, so they didn't have the scroll he and Hinata needed. The girl seemed thankful that he had not killed them, but she didn't spare a glance over them either.

"Let us continue." Gaara said. Hinata activated her byakugan. "I-I don't t-think we have t-to." She stated, just as a team with burst from the bushes, with their scroll in their hand. "How stupid." Gaara said. They looked up just in time to see Gaara make a slashing motion.

His sand formed a paw, and slashed after the genin. "Ah! Are you trying to kill us or something!" They yelled. "Yes." Gaara deadpanned. It was a lie, but it seemed they didn't get it. "No! Please don't! Here's our scroll! We're not fit to be chuunin after all, I think!" And with that, they had dropped their scroll and ran away.

Gaara blinked. "I did not think that would happen." He stated. Hinata giggled slightly and picked up their scroll. "W-Well it seems it did. L-Let's g-go to the t-tower."

XXX

Toboe hummed to herself as she practically danced trough the forest. Kiba smiled slightly, and Akamaru was …flirting with Hannah? He seemed totally lost. Hannah looked equally as stupid though.

Kiba stopped on a tree branch. "I smell someone close by." He stated. Toboe nodded. "So do I, boya. Let's find them!" She said and happily spun around before jumping down to the ground under. Kiba followed, but Akamaru and Hannah managed to run into the tree. Toboe snickered, while Kiba looked gobsmacked.

"A-Akamaru! What is wrong with you!" He said. Akamaru whined. "Nothing's wrong. But I really like Hannah-chan!" The dog stated. Kiba gaped. Toboe chuckled. "Hah! You got yourself a boyfriend, Hannah! I'm proud of you!" She said with fake tears. Hannah blushed. How a dog even did that…don't ask me.

"L-Let's go already! Maybe those others will escape!" Hannah yelled and comically began to run…in the wrong way. "Uh, Hannah? The other way!"

XXX

Shino scanned the area with his bugs. Karui concentrated on trying to sense chakra, but she wasn't very successful. Both of them kept running, as they felt it smarter than sitting down, practically waiting for enemies.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the tower, miraculously enough without encountering anyone. Shino shrugged and went inside, Karui following.

XXX

Chouji slammed down his large fist on the enemy he was facing. The kusa genin fought from long range, using kunai, shuriken and senbon. With a shriek, one of their enemies fled, leaving the other incapacitated one behind. Chouji frowned, but didn't say anything, while the kusa genin looked trough the enemy genins pouches.

XXX

There were few left. The kiri teams made it trough the forest, as well as one ame team. The rest were the Konoha 12, except for Team 7 and team Gai, Team Samui, Team Gihen, and Team Meisai. Anko looked disappointed.

"You all did well! Now, some words from our Hokage-sama!" The purple-haired Tokujo (Special jounin) yelled. Tsunade stepped forth from where she stood. "Okay. I should really have told you why we hold these exams and all that, but I figured you didn't really care about it." She stated.

"So with that in mind, we may start the preliminaries. You're too many to have in the finals." The blond Hokage said.

A man wearing the Konoha jounin outfit and sunglasses stepped forward. "Hello, my name is Yamahiro Aoba. I am your third proctor. The screen will randomly match up names, and the fights will be held here. Get ready." He explained.

The board flashed with names…

Hinata Hyuuga of Konoha vs. Mizuru Taku of Kiri

**And that's that.**

**Anything wrong, or anything you'd like me to change? Review! (Or PM me, for that matter...)**

**JA NE!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Yo! Here's the newest chapter, and it's the longest I have written ever! Might be because of the karaoke though...**

"Talk" 'Think' **"Rough/Evil voice" ** (Translation/AN)

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own Naruto, that's actually quite obvious...**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 10: Preliminaries and karaoke**

Hinata swallowed heavily as she looked at her chosen enemy. The boy was quite tall, and wore blue pants and a jacket, together with striped arm- and legwarmers. He had his hitai-ate around his neck.

Mizuru smirked. "Heh, scared, little girl?" He asked mockingly. Hinata narrowed her eyes. "S-start the match, proctor-san." She declared. Aoba nodded. "First match, hajime! (Begin!)"

Mizuru started with handsigns as soon as the proctor allowed him to. "Katon, goukakyuu no jutsu! (Fire style, giant fireball jutsu)" He yelled and blew a big ball of fire at Hinata, who easily dodged it. "M-my turn. Byakugan! (White-eyes!) Hakke, Kusho! (Eight trigrams, empty palm!) " She yelled and threw her palm forward.

Mizuru looked unimpressed until he was thrown back by a violent force and slammed into the wall. "Wh-What was that!" He yelled, amazed by the force. Hinata glared coldly at him. "A family technique. Forfeit, or you will lose your life."

XXX

Up in the stands, everyone was amazed at this other Hinata. "It's like she's a whole other person." Gaara murmured. Toboe nodded. "Probably trained very much." She said casually.

XXX

Down again, the mist nin gritted his teeth. "I won't lose to a shy girl!" He roared, only to regret it, when Hinata narrowed her eyes.

"Shukuken! (Palm heel strike!)" Everyone watched as the normally shy girl hit Mizuru straight over his heart. A normal palm heel strike would only paralyze, but with the extra chakra Hinata used, it went straight trough him.

Aoba checked the mist genin and sighed. "Shousha (winner): Hinata." He declared.

XXX

The genin looked at the board once again. It flashed with names…

"Naibun Akame vs Zeku Koriden of Kusa."

Zeku was a small ninja. But he was fast, apparently as he blurred out of view to end up on the arena floor. Akame disappeared into a flock of crows. Tsunade gave a start. 'That's-!' She thought.

Aoba started the match, and Zeku looked seriously at Akame. "I see you're a genjutsu type. I ask you to forfeit, as no genjutsu have ever worked against me." He said. Akame tilted his head slightly.

"We shall see. Magen, kasegui. (Demonic illusion, shackling stakes.)" He drawled. Zeku blinked in amazement when the world around him changed, and he screamed when stakes were driven trough his body, immobilizing him.

XXX

Tsunade was shaking. 'It's him. Only a person with sharinghan (copy wheel eye) can use that genjutsu, and Sasuke is in the forest.' She told herself. Toboe noticed it and walked over to the shaken Hokage. "Calm down, will you? You don't know him. Don't judge him according to rumors." She said seriously. Tsunade gritted her teeth, but nodded. "Very well."

XXX

Akame smirked slightly. "Kai. Your first mistake, was to see me in my eyes." He said, as Zeku dropped. Aoba sighed. "Shousha: Akame." He said. Everyone was in awe at the short battle, except the forest people. "Good work, Akame!" Toboe cheered happily. Akame smiled somewhat.

XXX

"Next battle is between…Sabaku no Temari and Ami of Konoha!" Aoba declared. The two combatants moved down. Ami was fiddling with her hair, and Temari scoffed. "You clearly care too much about your looks, girl." She said. Ami looked incredulous. "What! I have to continue taking care of my hair, or it'll be destroyed!" She yelled.

Aoba rolled his eyes and started the match. Ami immediately threw a kunai at Temari, which she simply stopped with one of her small fans. "I'll show you how a REAL ninja attacks!" She shouted and joined her fans together to one. She bit her thumb and smeared blood on the fan.

"Kuchiyose, Kiri kiri mai! (Summoning, quick beheading dance!)" A sickle weasel appeared in the winds. "Don't kill her. Just rough her up, a lot." Temari advised. The weasel, Kamatari, nodded. "Hai! (Yes!)

Ami screamed as the cutting winds, and the weasel made large cuts on her, and ruffled her hair badly, before chopping it off, badly.

When Temari ended the jutsu, Ami's precious hair was only a few dots of hair, coated in blood. Her body wasn't in good condition either. Aoba blinked. "Shousha: Temari." He said tiredly. "What's with all these short battles? God dammit machine! Pair up some good ones now!" Aoba shouted at the board. Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy.

The board flashes a few times before ending at: Yamanaka Ino of Konoha vs Sabaku no Kankuro. Kankuro sighed, Ino sighed, and Aoba sighed.

"Well, hajime."

XXX

The battle wasn't anything spectacular. Ino used flowers, and genjutsu. Kankuro used his puppets and genjutsu. It was a double knockout. When Kankuro woke up, he was embarrassed at being beaten by a girl, but let it go. Ino however, made a ruckus, because it was the second time she tied in the preliminaries.

Next battle was another Kiri ninja vs a Suna ninja, then came a Suna ninja vs a Kusa ninja, and some other fights.

XXX

"Inuzuka Kiba of Konoha vs Akimichi Chouji of Konoha." Kiba jumped over the railing with a yell. Akamaru leapt after him. Chouji merely went down the stairs. Aoba started the match, and Kiba grinned. "Shikyaku no jutsu! (Four legs jutsu) Juujin bunshin! (Beast human clone!)" Kiba became more animalistic, and Akamaru turned into Kiba.

"Get ready Chouji!" Kiba yelled and grinned. Chouji gulped. "Bubun baika no jutsu! (Partial expansion jutsu!)" He yelled, and his arms became much larger. Kiba and Akamaru ran at him. "Gatsuga! (Fang passing fang!)" He yelled and both he and Akamaru became spinning tornados of death.

When they neared Chouji, he braced himself with chakra and punched one of the drills. This hurt on both parts, as either Kiba or Akamaru was sent flying back, and Chouji gained a drill-shaped wound on his fist. The Kiba he punched rose with a groan. "Geez, Chouji. You've gotten really strong!" He exclaimed.

"But no matter! I will get to the next exam!" He yelled. Akamaru barked, still in Kiba's form. "Good idea boy!" Kiba said, and they both ran up to Chouji. The bigger boy was unprepared as Akamaru slashed at him, and then Kiba slashed him. Kiba slashed him once more, and Akamaru pounced onto Chouji. Then Kiba flip-kicked Chouji up in the air, and both Kiba and Akamaru slashed Chouji in a cross pattern.

The heavy boy fell to the floor with a thump. Akamaru turned into himself again and Kiba undid the shikyaku. Aoba looked refreshed after seeing a not all too bad fight. "Shousha: Kiba!" He yelled.

XXX

Kiba went up in the stands again and grinned at Toboe. "Top that, wolf girl!" He shouted. Toboe grinned. "You bet!" she shouted back, and dodged a sand paw. "Don't attract so much attention, Toboe." Gaara droned.

XXX

Next battle was: Toboe vs Samui of Kumo. Samui slowly and gracefully walked down. Toboe just leapt down. The match was started, and Toboe and Samui analyzed each other, not moving the least.

Then Samui rocketed off towards Toboe. While Toboe seemed surprised, it was clear to all the experienced ninja that she wasn't surprised the least, and she swerved to the side of Samui's attack.

"My turn! Raiton, ikazuchi no kiba! (Lightning style, fangs of lightning!)" Toboe yelled and raised her arms into the air. Samui looked surprised as electricity shot from nowhere and tried to hit her. She quickly dodged, and saw to her annoyance that some of her clothes had been singed.

"Oi, Toboe. That attack…do you not need those special swords of Kurosuki Raiga to perform that?" Samui wondered. Toboe grinned. "No. The original attack needed it, but I made up one that didn't need the swords." She explained.

Samui frowned, and grabbed what seemed to be a short sword fastened to her waist. "Let's continue." She said shortly, and blurred out of view. Toboe turned around and blocked the short sword with a silver tanto that just fazed into her hand.

Samui narrowed her eyes and sent electric chakra into her sword. Toboe retaliated with her own chakra. Samui's eyes widened and she leapt away quickly. "Your chakra…it is so strong!" She claimed. Toboe grinned savagely. "Of course it is!" She yelled, and the tanto dissolved into air again.

"But now…meet my favorite weapon! Beni Houkou! (Crimson Howl!)" She yelled, and with a nudge to her wrist, a black scythe with three crimson blades blinked into view. The sharpest part of the blades was darker, and dripping. 'Poison' Samui thought.

Toboe swung the big weapon, and sent it spinning towards Samui. Said kumo nin just realized she wouldn't be able to dodge, and looked for something to kawarimi (Body replacement) with. In a last ditch attempt, she kawarimied with a tile from the floor.

It worked, and she breathed out in relief, only to tense as the scythe changed directions. Samui looked and saw Toboe maneuver it with a chain connected to it. She quickly raised her arm. "I forfeit!" She yelled out, just as the scythe stopped 2 centimeters from her face.

Toboe was holding it, and with a flick it was gone. "Good fight." She commented. Samui just sighed. "Shousha: Toboe!"

XXX

In the stands, Kiba was gaping. "Ah…my fight was still better!" He said. Toboe smirked. "Was not."

"Was too!

"Was not!"

"WAS TOO!"

"WAS NOT, BOYA!"

Toboe dodged the incoming fan, and Kiba got hit. Temari huffed. "Stop acting like kids." She commanded. Toboe smirked. "Technically, we are still kids." She murmured, and dodged the fan once more.

XXX

"Next match is between Aoiro Nekotsume and Aburame Shino of Konoha." Aoba declared and moved away before starting the match. Shino frowned as he got a report from his bugs about the older girl's chakra. "Your chakra seems to be special." The Aburame observed.

Aoiro/Yugito smirked. "Of course it is. I'm special!" She yelled happily. Shino narrowed his eyes. "Hijutsu, mushidama. (Secret technique, insect sphere)" He said and stretched out his arms. Lots of kikaichu (destruction bugs) came towards Yugito.

Yugito only smirked. In a small movement she threw a kunai at Shino. The bug boy easily caught it and raised an eye until Yugito put her hands in the Nezumi (rat) seal. He immediately threw it away just as the kunai itself exploded.

Meanwhile, his bugs weren't able to catch Yugito as she was nearly dancing around the arena. Then she stopped and seemed to concentrate on something. Shino took this chance and sent his bugs at her.

Yugito grinned. "Neko ni kyūshō ari. (Cats have nine lives.)" She said, and disappeared from view. Shino frowned. 'What did she mean by that?' He wondered, before he leapt away as not to be clawed up. He looked at Yugito who now had claw-like nails and sharp teeth. Her eyes seemed wilder too, if possible.

"Come play." Yugito teased as she ran around Shino in circles. Said boy was confused, as he tried to keep view of his enemy.

XXX

"What did she mean by that statement, Toboe?" Temari wondered. Toboe grinned. "It's her favorite thing to say, so we made a jutsu which would activate when she said it. Of course, it is mostly just enhancement of her muscles and all, but with Nibi's chakra." The wolf girl explained. Temari nodded in fascination.

"Does Naruto or Gaara have the same jutsu?" Itachi, still looking like Akame, asked. Toboe nodded. "Both, actually. Gaara activates it with saying Mirai. (Future) and Naruto activates it using Dattebayo. Keeps him from saying that annoying word too often as well…" She claimed.

XXX

In the arena, Shino suddenly lost sight of Yugito, and she reappeared close to him, and punched him hard, sending him skidding to the other side. Then she put her hands together and began forming a chakra sphere. It was black and white, and kept growing.

"If you don't forfeit, I'll fire this at you. And I promise you, that won't only make you dissolve, but the whole arena." Yugito drawled. Shino struggled to get up and sighed. "I forfeit."

Aoba nodded. "Shousha: Aoiro!"

XXX

Next up was Gaara vs. Omoi. Omoi swallowed heavily and looked at Gaara. "You know, I don't want to fight. I want to relax. But then again, that could be dangerous if…" Gaara cut him off. "Concentrate on your match. Either forfeit, or fight. That is the rules of this exam." He stated.

Omoi sighed and pulled out a strawberry lollipop. "I'll fight then. It's not as if I'd win, but it is training." He murmured and dashed towards Gaara. Gaara stood with his arms crossed and a bored look.

With a swish-sound, Omoi had taken his sword out of its sheath and cut after Gaara. The sand swirled up and took hold of the sword. Omoi was surprised, but quickly sent raiton chakra trough his sword, making the sand loosen it's grip.

Gaara narrowed his eyes and with a wave of his arm, the sand surged forward, making several paws. Omoi dodged as fast as he could, but it wasn't long before he tripped and was caught by the sand. Gaara smiled and held up his hand. "Sabaku kyu. (Sand binding coffin)" He murmured and the sand swirled around Omoi and held him tight.

Omoi winced. "I forfeit."

XXX

The last match was Karui vs. an ame genin. As soon as the match started, Karui scoffed and raised her sword. "Kumo-ryu, omotegiri! (Cloud style, front beheading!)" The other genin was slashed in two. Karui blinked. "…I thought he'd at least have dodged…" She commented.

XXX

'Finally, the end of this!' Tsunade thought happily as she marched down to the arena. "A box will be passed around. Pick a piece of paper. You will be matched up according to the numbers." She instructed. Everyone did so, and Aoba drew up a quick sheet to show who would fight who.

"1st match: Karui vs. Temari.

2nd match: Aoiro vs. Kiba.

3rd match: Gaara vs. Hinata.

4th match: Akame vs. Toboe.

5th match: Unimportant genin vs. unimportant genin."

"You have one month to train for the finals. Until then, you may leave, or stick around, your choice. Team Meisai and Gihen, come talk to me in my office." Tsunade commanded and left.

XXX

Tsunade was waiting in her office, barely resisting the impulse to take out a sake bottle for herself. The two unusual teams soon came. Toboe yawned and grinned cheerfully. "So? What was it you wanted to talk about?" She asked.

Tsunade gritted her teeth. "Don't joke around! Give me answers! Why the hell do you have Uchiha –freaking- Itachi on your team!" She yelled. Toboe shrugged. "He isn't on my team. He's with Temari and Kankuro." She said cheerfully. Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Enough. Answer." She demanded.

Toboe frowned. "Sure, sure. Geez, calm down woman. Itachi isn't very bad being around. A little boring, sure, but nothing worse." She said. Tsunade gaped. "Don't you have any idea what he did?" She asked incredulously.

Toboe's eyes narrowed and her next answer was cold. "His orders. What, did you really think he would kill his family just for the heck of it?" She wondered. The others looked carefully at the blonde Hokage. "O-orders?" Tsunade gaped.

Itachi dispelled his henge (transformation) and nodded. "Homura, Koharu and Danzo gave me orders to eliminate the Uchiha clan, as they were planning a coup to take over the village." He explained in a monotone voice. Tsunade rubbed her forehead. "I just knew I shouldn't have asked." She mumbled.

"Okay. Just be careful. As said, you have one month to train, or do something else for that matter…" Tsunade explained, before finally giving into her desire and fetching a sake bottle.

XXX

Outside, Toboe stretched and grinned. "Okay! Those of you who wish to go back to the forest for training, do so. I'll stay here, and find a karaoke bar!" She said cheerfully. Yugito shrugged. "I'll go back. Anyone else?" She wondered. Kankuro nodded. "Me too. I haven't gone any further in the exam, but that just proves I need to train more."

Toboe nodded. "I think Hannah should go back with you. Okay, Hannah? Send Ran here." She decided. Hannah nodded. "I'll watch over the forest!" She yelled.

The three of them sat out, and Itachi, Gaara, and Temari went to their hotel. Toboe skipped away to find a karaoke bar, and the gossip queen, Ino.

XXX

She found Ino first. The blonde girl was working in the Yamanaka flower shop, dancing around while watering the plants. A bell rang over the door as Toboe stepped in, and Ino stopped dancing. "Welcome! What can I help you with? Oh hi, you're that girl from the chuunin exams, Toboe, was it?"

Toboe grinned. "Yup. You like dancing, I see?" She asked humorously. Ino blushed slightly. "Of course. It helps against stress, just like the flowers." She claimed. "Now why are you here? Need any flowers?" She wondered. Toboe shook her head.

"Nah. I just wondered if you knew where I could find a karaoke bar! I love singing." She explained. Ino's eyes lit up. "Oh! I know! There is a place not far from here! I can show you!" She exclaimed. Toboe grinned. "Great! Actually, why don't you gather up some of your friends, so we can have a karaoke contest!" She proposed.

Ino grinned and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Good idea! When?" She asked. Toboe shrugged. "Later tonight?"

"Sure! Come here at eight, and I'll show you where it is!"

XXX

Around eight at night, four persons waited outside the flower shop. The door opened, and Ino came out. "You came! Great! The others are already there. Follow me!" She said and began walking. Toboe and the others followed.

Itachi had altered his looks slightly, so now he looked like a younger Itachi, but without the streaks under his eyes, and his hair was blacker, whereas his normal hair had a grey sheen.

They arrived at a place with living lights outside. Inside, there weren't many people, but those who were there seemed to have fun. "It's cozy." Gaara said with a slight smile. Ino nodded. "Of course. I'll just talk to the manager about something! How many of you want to sing?" She asked. Before anyone could say anything, Toboe replied. "All of us!"

Ino sped away as soon as she heard, and Itachi and Gaara groaned. "We don't want to sing." Gaara stated. Toboe shrugged and grinned eerily. "Now you want to."

She said and skipped towards the table where she could see some of the other ninja, Kiba being the loudest. "Yo, Kiba! You gonna sing today?" She shouted. Kiba grinned. "Of course!" He yelled back. One of the others, a boy with white eyes grimaced.

"You're too loud, Inuzuka." He stated. Kiba huffed. "You're just too silent, Neji." He claimed. Toboe looked at who were there. Kiba and Hinata were there, but Shino was not. Ino was of course here, and Chouji was too, along with a pineapple haired boy.

Then there was the white-eyed boy, Neji, and a girl with her hair in buns and a boy with a green spandex suit. Toboe twitched. 'That's…green.' She thought. "Hi. I'm Toboe." She introduced herself. Neji raised an eyebrow. "Hyuuga Neji. Where are you from?" He asked. Toboe tilted her head. "Everywhere and nowhere." She stated.

Everyone looked at her weirdly, but she shrugged it off. The bun-haired girl smiled slightly. "I'm Tenten. Nice to meet you." She said. The green-clad boy jumped up and grinned. "I'm Rock Lee! Konoha's green beast!" He yelled. Neji ignored it, and Tenten looked vaguely embarrassed.

The pineapple haired boy looked up. "Nara Shikamaru." He simply said. Chouji smiled at his friend. "He's just lazy." He explained. Toboe nodded. "Figured that was the case. Anyways, here are my friends; Gaara, Temari and …Itachi." She gestured to each of them.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Itachi? I've only heard of one person with that name." He murmured. Itachi nodded. "I believe I was named after him." He lied smoothly. Shikamaru still seemed suspicious, but let it go.

Suddenly, the lights were up at the scene, and a man with a microphone stepped up. "Welcome people, to this nights karaoke contest!" He said. People cheered. "The contestants are as follows: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, Sabaku no Gaara, Sabaku no Temari, Itachi and Toboe!"

People cheered again, louder. Tenten looked at Neji in wonder. "You're going to sing?" She asked incredulously. Neji looked away. "It was a request from Hinata-sama." He merely stated, but you could see his cheeks were slightly pink.

XXX

"The first contestant is Yamanaka Ino. Please come to the stage!" The microphone man said. Ino came from the curtains at the back of the scene, in a purple kimono. "Hello everyone!" She yelled, and waved.

The man gave her the microphone. "Okay, I'm gonna sing a song I heard once. It's named Hirusagari no tawamure!"

"Mujakini koboreru

Ya warekara hikariwo

Futari no karada ga saegiru

Ikibawo naku shita

Mayoigo no buun shiga

Futari no aidawo samayou

Yasashiku Yasashiku

Soshite yuuku rito

Yorisou futatsu no kagesunani shimita

Uto uto shitetara

Namiga yoseteha kaeshi

Futarino ashi hatowa kiete

Kageao ga yuraidero dake

Yasashiku Yasashiku

Soshite yuuku rito

Yorisou futatsu no kagesunani shimita

Itsuka kieta

Utouto shitetara

Daremo inaku natte

Futarino kotobamo togirete

Kageao ga yuraidero dake"

She finished singing, and even Shikamaru was gaping. "She's very good. Who could have known that loudmouth voice of hers could have hid that…" Shikamaru mumbled. Chouji nodded. Ino bowed and retreated to change into her normal clothes again.

The microphone man stepped forth. "Wasn't that a great song! Now, the next contestant is Nara Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru sighed and walked slowly up to the stage. He took the microphone and weighed it slightly in his hand before sighing. "I'm singing Lazy mind."

"Kizukanai Ma ni kui arasarete Katamari dashita Ashimoto no Kage

Tachi ugaru koto wa dekiru ka? Atarashii Hikari he to Aruki dasou

Akuma wa nemuru ogori no Naka ni Gisensha ga warau yasuragi no hibi

Shinkirou no you na Sekai no Naka de Shinjirareru mono Hitotsu Tashikame ni yukou

Break it! Break it away! This is really only my way Break it! Break it out now! I never give way to "Lazy Mind" yeah!

Yuragu Kokoro wa Hakisutereba ii Kurayami naraba Tesaguri demo ii

Osoreru mono ga aru to sureba Mesame wo Matsu UIRUSU(Virus) ga kono Mune ni Naka ni

Break it! Break it away! This is really only my way Break it! Break it out now! I never give way to "Lazy Mind" yeah!

Break it! Break it out now!

Kui Tsukusareru Mae ni Break it out!

Kuri kaesareru Jimon Jitou no hibi kono Te de dachi no PIRIODO(Period)

Bring it on! Bring it on! Bring it on now!

Yuruginai Kokoro wo Bring it on!

Dare no mono demo Nai My way kono Te de Yana kusa My days

Break it! Break it away! This is really only my way Break it! Break it out now! I never give way to "Lazy Mind" yeah! Break it! Break it away! This is really only my way Break it! Break it out now! I never give way to "Lazy Mind" yeah!"

Shikamaru sighed and gave the microphone back to the man. Lots of people were cheering, but this only made Shikamaru slouch even more. "I shouldn't have agreed to this." He mumbled when he saw many girls with hearts in their eyes.

The man with the microphone grinned. "Yet another great song! But what about the next contestant…? Hyuuga Neji, come on up!" Neji sighed softly and went up with grace, befitting a member of the Hyuuga clan.

"I shall sing a song named Ai to kishi."

"Ai suru monotachi yo Waga na wa Hookumon Yuusha no akashi taru atsuki tamashii Watashi koso senshi

Anata ga kuru no wo Machitsuzukemashita Kore koso unmei sore ga Watashi na no desu yo

Ai suru monotachi yo Waga na wa Hookumon Yuusha no akashi taru atsuki tamashii Watashi koso senshi

Anata ga iru kara Tatakaeru no deshou Watashi wa taorenai tatoe Kono mi yakaretemo

Akuma yo, kiku ga ii Waga na wa Hookumon Naito no akashi taru hagane no tsubasa Moeagare inochi

Ai suru monotachi yo Waga na wa Hookumon Yuusha no akashi taru atsuki tamashii Watashi koso senshi

Akuma yo, kiku ga ii Waga na wa Hookumon Naito no akashi taru hagane no tsubasa Moeagare inochi

Ai suru monotachi yo Waga na wa Hookumon Yuusha no akashi taru atsuki tamashii Watashi koso senshi

Moeagare inochi"

Neji quit singing, and looked at Hinata who had a soft smile on her face. His cousin had always liked that song. He slowly went down to his seat again.

The microphone man blinked and stepped forth again. 'Definitely a lot of talent here…' He thought. "Next contestant is Inuzuka Kiba!" Kiba whooped and leapt up to the scene. He gave a thumb up and grinned. Taking the microphone, he coughed. "I'm going to sing Destiny!"

"anata ni aete shinjitsu shitta

taisetsu na hito wo ushinau kurushimi

maru de sabaku wo samayou youni

boku ha kimi wo sagashi tsuzukeru

doko he ikeba tadoristukeru darou

kimo wo mamoru tame ni dousureba ii

ooi sora ni shita de fureru koto sae dekinai

afuredasu kono omoi dousureba ii no darou

surechigai motomeai aishiai hanareteyuku kokoro

todoke boku no omoi

hitotsu dake tashikana koto ha

kimi no tame naraba subete sutesaru

fuan na yoru ni hitori nakanaide

mirai ikiru tame futari ha iru

itsudemo kimi no soba ni iru kara

namida fuite kao wo agete goran

fueru karada wo dakishimeteagerareru

mitsumeau dake de kotoba nado iranai kara

shinjitsu ni yuruganai tashikana kuruoshii omoi

kimi mo wakaru hazu sa

ooi sora no shita de furerukoto sae dekinai

afuredasu kono omoi dousureba ii no darou

surechigai motomeai aishiai hanareteyuku kokoro

todoke boku no omoi"

Kiba took a deep breath as he finished. He grinned triumphantly and jumped off the scene. "Not too bad, boya." Toboe said with a grin. Kiba huffed. "I'd like to see you do any better!" He challenged. Toboe tilted her head. "Maybe, maybe not. I'm last, after all."

"Next up is Hyuuga Hinata!" Hinata shyly stepped up and took the microphone. "Ano, I'm g-going to s-sing Eternal Blaze."

"H-Haruka sora hibiite iru inori wa kiseki ni

Mayonaka no

Ao ni tokete nagareteku namida no tsubu

Mayoi naku tsutsumikomu nukumori ni deatta

Masshiro na yuki no you ni

Dokoma demo sunao na kotoba

Tetsu no hane matotta boku wo ugokashiteku

Kizutsuku tabi ni yasashiku nareru

Kimi no sono egao dake mamori nukitai

Negai wa hitotsu

Toki wo koe

Kizamareta kanashimi no kioku

Massugu ni uketomeru

Kimi wa hikari no tenshi

Ano hi mune ni tomotta eien no honoo

Fukai yami toki hanatte

Jiyuu no tobira hiraiteku

Tsuyoku hate nai mirai he

Tsumetai midori no tsuki ni

Utsushidasu kokoro no kage

Sabishige ni tsubuyaita

"Kimi no soba ni itai"

Shinjitsu to muki au koto

Oshiete kureta yuuki wa

Boku wo kake megutte

Yume ni mezamete yuku

Fure au kimochi

Hanare nai you ni

Shikkari to dakishimete

Tashika na omoi tsuranuite yuku

Gin no umi ni kakushita kuuhaku no PEEJI

Kimi dake ga shitte iru

"Hontou" wo boku ni misete

Fuki areru setsuna sa ni

Umare yuku chikai

Mou nani mo kowaku wa nai yo

Musunda shisen sorasazu ni

Taisetsu na "Ima" hajimeru

Kimi ga kimi de irareru basho

Maboroshi ni sarawarenu you ni

Kie nai ame no kurushimi mo

Kagi wo kowashite butsukete yo

Tonari ni iru kara

Subete wo shinjite

Toki wo koe

Kizamareta kanashimi no kioku

Massugu ni uketomeru

Kimi wa hikari no tenshi

Ano hi mune ni tomotta eien no honoo

Fukai yami toki hanatte

Jiyuu no tobira hiraiteku

Tsuyoku hate nai mirai he

Sou, kitto koko kara hajimaru..."

Hinata looked up, and smiled when she saw all the grins and everyone cheering. "That was great, Hinata!" Kiba claimed. Neji nodded. "You have trained, I heard." He said with a smile.

"Next up is Sabaku no Gaara!" The microphone man announced. Gaara sighed. "…Do I have too?" He mumbled. Toboe nodded. "Yes. You have too. Now move it!" She exclaimed and pushed him. He glared at her and appeared at the scene in a swirl of sand.

"The song I shall sing is named Kageri no fuuin." He stated, and took a deep breath.

"kaze ni hagureta tori wa

naite nakama e to kaeru

koe wo motanai chou wa

tsugeru omoi sae nai

yokogao ni nokoru kageri no fuuin jubaku ni nite

mune ni binetsu ga yadotta

sore wo kokoro to yobu no ka

kowareru made wa

omae no soba ni iru

doushite omae wa warau

doushite omae wa naiteiru

hana wo kirei to itta

chiru tame ni sakuhana wo

hitomi wo tojite mo omae no sugata ga naze kienai

mune ni binetsu ga hirogaru

soshite itoshisa shiru no ka

setsuna no naka ni

omae wo kakushitai

harukanaru toki e inochi no fuuin omae ga toku

mune ni hikari wo kanjita

kore ga ai da to iu no ka

kowaretakunai

omae no soba ni iru"

Gaara looked impassively at the crowd and shunshinned down to his friends. Toboe grinned. "That's great, Gaara! You should sing more often!" She said. Gaara looked flatly at her. "No."

"And now, it is Sabaku no Temari's turn!"

Temari smirked. "Watch me." She stated and went up to the scene and got the microphone. "Okay, I'm going to sing Future scramble!"

"Yottsu no ikiru tsuyosa ga Shinjiru michi de tsunagaru Fence wo koete atsumaru Future scramble e

Ironna yatsu ga irebaii Butsukariaeru uso wa na

Dreams go go, no sweet Hashiridasu machine no youna bokura wa Dreams

Kyouretsu na jounetsu ni Te wo yaki yakedo shisousa Mayoi eranda basho de mata Aeta hi wo wasurenai

Nando mo tsumazuki nagara Hiza no suna wo haratta Mittsu no te ga sashidasare Mittsu no egao ga atta

Tarinai mono wo sagasu nara Hikikaesunomo warukunai

Dreams as wonderland Mawaridasu wo mikata ni tsukeyou Dreams

Yuukan ni zasetsu suru jikan mo Muda ja nainosa Rasenkaidan kakenoboru Ima kaze ga hirogatta

Omou mama kagayaita yuuhi ni hoho wo terasarete Bokura sorezore ni Akogareru sora no hate wo mitsumeteru

Dreams go go, no sweet Hashiridasu machine no youna bokura wa Dreams as wonderland Mawaridasu wo mikata ni tsukeyou

Dreams Yuukan ni zasetsu suru jikan mo Muda ja nainosa Mayoi eranda basho de mata Shinjitsu ni aeru darou"

The blonde girl smiled as she stepped off the scene. "Only you two left now, let's see just how good you are! … Or not." She added as an afterthought.

"Itachi is up!"

Itachi sighed softly and went up to the scene. "Which song, I wonder…I will sing Last dunk – suigo no ichibyou ni kakero."

"asekaki besokaki Hey-Hey-Hey muri o shouchi de yaranakya dame sa

jinsei wa A-ha

hassuru massuru Feel so good tafu na karada wa shihon ni naru ze

kitaena yo A-ha

_Wipe your sweat, wipe you tears, hey-hey-hey, you've gotta know your limits. _

_That's life. A-ha. _

_Hustle, muscle, feel so good, a tough body is valuable. _

_Discipline yourself. A-ha._

tokui no danku o kimeteyare shinjita ashita e to otoko wa hansoku girigiri de SOUL o moyashi tatakau _Shoot the winning dunk and head towards the future you believe in. Men fight their battles on the edge of violating the rules._

You are the one (we can do it) chansu wa minogasu na (take your chance) Oh yeah. Hontou no (we can fly high) shoubu ga kimaru no wa (don't look behind you) saigo no ichibyou sa _You are the one. (we can do it) Don't let this chance escape you. (take your chance) Oh yeah The real battle… (we can fly high) …all comes down… (don't look behind you) … to the last second!_

oshiai heshiai Yeah-Yeah-yeah difensu dake ja kachime wa nai sa kiai da ze A-ha sanshoku hirune de It's all right chikaramakase ni kabe o ketobashi tsukisusume A-ha _crash, smash, yeah-yeah-yeah You ain't winning on just defense. Concentrate hard. A-ha Three meals a day and a nap is just right. Kick the wall with all your might, And smash through. A-ha_

omae no danku o misetekure donna ni tsurakute mo kanarazu gyakuten dekiru hazu geemu wa sou sa korekara _Show me your dunk, no matter how hard it is for you. I know your dunk will turn the tables; and yes, the game begins there!_

You are the one (we can do it) gooru wa tookunai (take your chance) Oh yeah mou nido to (we can fly high) renpai dekinai ze (don't look behind you) "ima" wa ichido dake sa _You are the one.(we can do it) The goal is not far. (take your chance) Oh yeah. You must not… (we can fly high) …be defeated again. (don't look behind you) "Now" only happens once!_

You are the one (we can do it) chansu wa minogasu na (take your chance) Oh yeah. Hontou no (we can fly high) shoubu ga kimaru no wa (don't look behind you) korekara sa _You are the one. (we can do it) Don't let this chance escape you. (take your chance) Oh yeah The real… (we can fly high) …battle all comes down to… (don't look behind you) …what you do from now on!"_

Itachi twitched as he quit singing. It wasn't his favorite song, by no means, but he just wanted to get it over with. Toboe looked at him with a half pout half glare, and he shrugged.

"Last contestant, Toboe!" The microphone man yelled, and Toboe rose and stretched. "Very well!" She said and jumped up to the scene.

"I'll sing Blue!"

"Plastic blue invitations in my room. I've been waiting here for you. Reservations made for two. Sunlight fading

**Black toungues speak faster than the car can crash. You supply the rumours and I'll provide the wrath. Romance is breaking every heart in two. Casting shadows in the pale shade of ****blue.**

Plastic blue conversations in my room. Saving every tear for you. Trusting ever word untrue. Twilight fading

**Fate changes faster than the death of light. You supply the envy and I'll provide the spite reflections. Cutting every face in two. Casting s****hadows in the pale shade of blue"**

Toboe grinned as she finished the song. She had varied between using her normal voice, and a dark, ominous one that had everyone shivering. "Well, that was fun!" She yelled and leapt of the stage. "Come on, let's go! I bet Ran is waiting for us!" She said as she skipped towards the door.

The microphone man looked after them. "Huh? What about the results? Don't you want to know who won?" He asked. Toboe shook her head. "Nah. I just wanted to sing!" She claimed and skipped away. Gaara shook his head and smiled before disappearing with his sand.

Temari walked calmly together with Itachi. "It was nice to meet you. I look forward to seeing you again." Itachi said and bowed, disappearing in a flock of crows. Ino, seeing this tilted her head. "…Wasn't that Akame's trick?"

**XXX**

**You should really search for these songs at youtube. My favorite is Kageri no fuuin, cuz it's Gaara-kun' seiyuu that sings it...**


	11. Chapter 11

**New chapter! Well...yeah. Enjoy!**

"Talk" 'Think' (Translation/AN)

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, never have, never will.**

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 11**

Toboe smirked at Temari's irritated glare. "You want me to do what?" The irritated mountain lion asked. Toboe grinned. "I said: I want you to go ask Maito Gai for training in taijutsu. That's not what I'm best at, you know. And you need some more taijutsu." She said.

Temari gritted her teeth. "But still…he's a maniac! Not to forget that I nearly broke his girl student's back when we fought last time…" She winced. Toboe shrugged. "Just ask. I'll follow you either way!" She snickered. Temari sighed in defeat. "Fine."

XXX

Gai was currently watching his _youthful_ students train. Neji was already a chuunin, and would participate in the jounin exams in a short time. Tenten was a chuunin as well, and that went for Lee too. Neji and Lee were sparring, while dodging Tenten's weapons.

Gai turned when he saw someone coming into the training grounds. A brown haired girl and a blonde girl…'Hm? Sabaku no Temari?' He thought curiously. The brown haired girl grinned. "Yo! I'm Toboe! This is Temari, though I bet you already know. Anyways…" She looked pointedly at Temari.

The dirty blonde scowled. "I wanted to ask if you could help me with my taijutsu." She said. Gai grinned. "Why didn't you just say so? I shall help another youthful soul!" He yelled, gaining team 9's attention. Tenten frowned when she saw Temari, but didn't say anything.

Temari blinked. "Just like that? You're not angry that I almost broke your student, Tenten's back last time we fought?" She asked. Gai shook his head. "No. It was a fight. Though you didn't have to be so…haughty." He hesitated.

Neji looked at Toboe with a scrutinizing eye. "Who are you?" He demanded. Toboe blinked. "Toboe…you're Hinata's cousin, right?" She wondered. Neji nodded. "Indeed. What about it?" He inquired. Toboe grinned. "You should have seen her in the preliminaries! She kinda killed the guy she fought…" She drifted off.

Neji looked shocked. "What?" He uttered. Toboe nodded sagely. "I think she's got a split personality. Like me!" She said brightly. Tenten raised an eyebrow. "You look perfectly normal." She stated. Toboe grinned rather sinisterly. "Oh, you think so?" She said, her voice dark and malicious.

Tenten shivered. "Err…no." She replied. Toboe instantly shifted to cheerful mode again. "Good! Cuz I'll have you know, it's no good to be close to me if I go crazy." She said. Neji tilted his head. "Crazy as in…?" He wondered. Toboe licked her lips. "Bloodlust frenzy." She nearly whispered. Neji swallowed heavily.

"I see. We shall take care not to be close to you then." He said. Toboe smirked. "Very good. Now, Te-" "Yosh! If I cannot help you, I shall climb up the Hokage Mountain with my teeth!" "Gai-sensei! I shall help! If I cannot do so, I'll do 500 laps around Konoha!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Bye! See you some other time!"

XXX

Gaara raised an eyebrow at Temari. "Why is she shivering?" He wondered. Toboe chuckled. "She saw Gai and Lee having their hug." She explained. Gaara twitched. "I see." He mumbled. Toboe blinked. "Have you analyzed Hinata's fighting style yet?" She asked.

Gaara shook his head. "Not much. But I know she uses Jyuuken (Gentle fist), and it uses chakra and tenketsu (chakra points)." He drawled. Toboe frowned. "You'd have a hard time if she pierced trough your armor…see if you can get Itachi to teach you some moves, I bet he's copied some of them." She said.

Gaara nodded. "By the way, I think Ran is with Itachi." He said calmly. Toboe grinned. "Oh! Then let's go find Itachi!" She exclaimed and bounced off. Gaara smirked and followed in a much calmer pace, only glancing behind at his sister before leaving.

XXX

Toboe was skipping, and yelled happily when she was run over by a large grey wolf. "Ran-chan!" Ran barked happily. "Hi!"

Gaara came walking behind. "Hello, Ran. Do you by chance know where Itachi is?" He asked. Ran nodded. "He's at the dango shop, trying to eat without being pestered by a purple-head." She explained. Toboe grinned. "I want some dango too! Let's go!"

XXX

"Leave me alone." Itachi murmured to one certain Mitarashi Anko. Said woman grinned. "No way!" She replied quickly, and Itachi sighed. He saw Toboe and Gaara come around the corner and blinked. "Yo, Itachi!" Toboe yelled. Itachi would have face-palmed, if it weren't for the fact that he was an Uchiha.

Anko smirked. "So Itachi is your name, huh? I like it." She said and licked her lips. Itachi shivered slightly. "Yes. What is it, Toboe?" He wondered, a slight twitch visible over his eyebrow. Toboe grinned, not at all apologizing. "Mah, I wondered if you could help Gaara with his taijutsu! … And I wanted some dango." She added.

Anko raised an eyebrow. "You're the kids that tried to spy on me." She stated. Toboe blinked. "Yeah." She said. Anko grinned. "You've got guts! You resemble me!" She declared. Toboe grinned too. "Great! So…want to get some dango?" She asked.

Anko nodded, and they raced over to the desk. Gaara, Itachi and Ran was left standing and looking weirdly at them. "Crazies." Ran stated. Gaara chuckled slightly. "Indeed. Now, Itachi-san. I am up against the Hyuuga girl, as you know. I wondered if you could teach me some of the jyuuken, so I could figure it out?" He asked.

Itachi tilted his head and nodded. "Yes. I have copied some of it. Let's find an unoccupied training ground." He said, and dissolved into crows. Gaara huffed and left in a swirl of sand. Ran sighed, and walked towards Anko and Toboe.

XXX

Temari twitched as she span around, deflecting Tenten's weapons with her fans. Then she dodged a flying kick from Lee, and barely evaded Neji's palm. Gai stood at the side, watching. 'Why the hell do I have to fight three at once just so he can get a feel of my abilities?' She thought, annoyed.

"Fuuton, kamaitachi no jutsu! (Wind style, sickle weasel jutsu)" She yelled, and manipulated the wind to part, sending it at all three of her opponents. Tenten gritted her teeth and reverse summoned herself to stand beside Gai, effectively meaning she forfeited. Lee ran away from the wind, as simple as that.

Neji started his Kaiten (Heavenly spin), and it cancelled out the wind currents. Temari gritted her teeth and span around herself, waving her fans. "Fuuton, genwaku kaze no jutsu! (Wind style, blinding wind jutsu)" She yelled, and unleashed a spinning wind. It wasn't very strong, but the purpose of this jutsu wasn't to hurt directly, rather to blind opponents…

Neji yelped when the wind hit him, and he got lots of dust and sand in his eyes. Lee got the same result when he tried to help his comrade, and they could no longer see, Neji might have been able to see with his byakugan, but to do so, he would have to open his eyes first...

Temari smirked, vanished from view and arrived close to them both. Tossing her fans into her sash, she did some hand-signs. "Kaze keimusho! (Wind prison)" She stated, and a barely visible wind span around the two boys, keeping them effectively captured.

She was panting, and Gai nodded. "You can release them now." He said, and Temari did so. Neji blinked, and scowled. "I still have sand in my eyes." He stated. Temari shrugged, and waved her fan at him, blowing his hair out of his hair-tie, and blowing the sand out of his eyes as well.

Neji looked rather disgruntled as his hair flowed silkily over his shoulders. Temari smirked. "My oh my, you've got good hair care I see." She said. Neji scowled again, and childishly turned away. Tenten raised an eyebrow at Neji. "Really Neji, why don't you just cut it?" She asked.

Neji blinked. "It's my precious hair! How can I cut it!" He asked, scandalized. Tenten waved her arms. "No, no, it was just a suggestion!" She exclaimed. Lee gave a thumb up. "Yosh! I too shall grow out my hair!" He yelled.

Tenten threw a blunt kunai at him. "No way Lee!" She yelled back. Temari snorted and looked at Neji. She shrugged and quickly cut of a piece of her sash. She offered it to Neji. "Here. You can tie up your hair with this." She stated. Neji looked surprised, but took it with a huff. Temari snickered.

XXX

"The jyuuken is a flowing form of fighting. While it may be seen as a stiff form, that is merely on the outside. To use the jyuuken fully, you would need a byakugan." Itachi explained to Gaara. The red-haired boy nodded and frowned.

"I shall teach you some of the forms, and how to move your chakra with it. Then, you can figure out the rest for yourself." Itachi stated, and slipped down into the starting stance of the jyuuken. Gaara pressed his lips together and took off his gourd to better move.

Itachi tilted his head and looked at Gaara's stance. "Hmm. There is potential, but you're more used to a stiffer stance. For me to continue training you, you must be softer. Do some stretching, and try to bend in ways you aren't used to."

Gaara groaned softly.

XXX

"So, how come you're not from a village?" Anko asked curiously, while holding her dango stick away from the playful Ran. Toboe shrugged. "Cuz I don't like villages, mostly. I prefer living a little more…freely." She answered. Anko nodded. "I know what you mean…but I have sworn my allegiance here, and it's not too bad." She said.

Toboe shrugged. "The ninja's aren't too bad. The civilians on the other hand…" She drifted off. Anko nodded. "Too true, sister." She replied. "Ne, wanna spar? I haven't gotten a real good fight in ages!" Toboe exclaimed. Anko grinned. "Sure!"

XXX

Temari looked at the weights dumped in front of her with a raised eyebrow. "You want me to wear those? No. Way." She said, pointing at the neon orange leg and arm warmers covering the weights. Gai looked put out. "Why not? Orange is a youthful color!" He exclaimed.

Temari shook her head. "I said: No way! And I mean it. No, I'll only wear it if you change the color. And I would need some other clothes to go with it." She said. Gai's eyes twinkled, and he shot off, yelling something about youthful clothes.

Tenten patted Temari's back. "You just doomed yourself to look youthful." She said. Temari stiffened. "…Gai-sensei! You must get some youthful clothes for Tenten too!" She yelled quickly. Tenten gaped. "Hey! That's evil!" She said. Temari smirked, though it wasn't as intimidating as normal. "I am evil." She said.

XXX

In the forest, Yugito, Hannah and Kankuro were sleeping, or rather Kankuro and Hannah. Yugito was wide awake, and looking at Naruto. "You know what? I'll go get Toboe, so you don't hurt yourself." The cat girl stated and rose. Naruto was trying to go to human form, and he had nearly succeeded, but Yugito thought it safer to have Toboe there.

She changed into her large cat form, and dashed away.

XXX

Toboe and Anko stood in a training ground, looking at each other. Then suddenly, the bushes rustled, and Yugito shot trough them, and landed between them. "Toboe! Naruto's trying to change, and I think he might be able to do it!" She exclaimed.

Anko narrowed her eyes. "Naruto? What's she talking about, huh?" She asked Toboe. The wolf girl nodded to Yugito. "He's in the forest. I'll tell you more later." She said, and in a swift movement, she was gone, leaving Anko and Yugito. Yugito looked at Anko and shrugged. "I got to go. See ya later." She said and vanished too.

Anko huffed, and went towards the dango stand again.

XXX

Sakura started when Toboe dashed out of the bushes and landed in front of the half-human Naruto. She growled, and hit his head. "You idiot! I told you not to do anything stupid when I was gone!" She exclaimed.

Naruto huffed. "But I-!" He started. Toboe calmed down. "Try to go to human form. Think about how you used to look, and fill your thoughts with chakra. You get it?" She asked. Naruto nodded, and tried. It was slow, but in the end, Naruto was in human form.

"Whohoo! I did it!" He exclaimed. Sakura tilted her head. "Would I be able to as well?" She wondered. Toboe nodded. "Probably. The time is a bit wrong, it seems. Kakashi! Sasuke! Come here." She yelled. They were there in a flash.

"Yes?" Kakashi drawled with a smile. Toboe pointed at Naruto. "Try to change you too. Naruto, there are some clothes in that cave." She said. Kankuro came out of his cave. "Huh, what's up? Wha-? You've already changed?" He said, surprised. Naruto nodded happily, and went to find some more fit clothes.

Sakura managed to change quite fast, and Kakashi and Sasuke was right behind her. They too went to find clothes, and Toboe grinned.

XXX

Naruto looked at his clothes quite happily. While there wasn't any orange, it was still pretty good. He had black ninja sandals that were slightly higher than his former ones, crimson pants, and black and crimson jacket with a turtleneck, a black fishnet shirt, and a black headband with long ends. (His suit in Shippuuden, except it's crimson and black instead of orange.) His knife had a holder of it's own on his left hip. His hair had oddly enough gained blood-red streaks in it. His nails were also sharper than before.

Sakura had black, high-heeled boots, black spandex shorts, a dark pink, almost red yukata, with dark red cherry blossoms, and black gloves. She had a dark pink headband, and her chakra-siphoning armbands were still around her wrists. Her hair was longer, and she put it in a braid, reaching down to her lower back.

Sasuke got grayish sandals that reached half-way to his knees, very dark blue pants, a white, long-sleeved shirt with a high collar that he zipped down to show half his chest, he had a metal plate fastened to his right shoulder, and his tanto was comfortably fastened on his lower back.

Of course, he had the Uchiha clan symbol on his back.

Kakashi hadn't changed at all. Except for the color. Instead of dark blue, his clothes were now black, and his green vest slightly darker. His kunai was put in an extra pouch, beside the shuriken pouch.

Toboe clapped her hands. "Great! Now let's go meet Tsunade, or she'll probably kill me if I told her you're in human form again…" She drifted off, before bouncing into the trees. Naruto shot off after her, while the rest of team 7 went in a much slower pace.

XXX

"You understand it now?" Itachi drawled. Gaara nodded slightly. "I think so. I shall train more though. Thank you for your time." He said. Itachi nodded. "Now…have you seen any pocky shops around?" He wondered. Gaara smirked. "Not to far from the dango shop." He said, and watched in wonder as Itachi hurried to get some of his favorite food.

XXX

Temari made a grimace as she looked at Gai's youthful choice of clothes. He had actually went and bought some for Tenten and Neji too. Tenten got a cherry red spandex suit, with white arm and legwarmers. Neji got an off-white spandex suit with brown arm and legwarmers.

And Temari got a black spandex suit with red arm and legwarmers. She twitched. "I should have kept my mouth shut." She decided, before unsealing her trench coat from a scroll and taking it on.

Tenten looked at it with a raised eyebrow. "That's a nice piece of accessory. How come you're not wearing it usually?" She wondered. Temari shrugged. "It's too hot. But there's no way I'll be seen wearing a spandex suit without something to cover it up." She explained.

Neji smirked. "The lion on the back certainly resembles you." He stated. Temari stiffened slightly, but hid it. "Yah. Which is why I chose it." She said coolly.

Tenten made a pained smile as Gai came running. "Back to training…" She said.

Temari and Neji sagged down in unison.

XXX

Tsunade was sleeping, and drooling on the papers she was supposed to sign. Toboe stood in the door, and waited for team 7. Naruto arrived first, and grinned impishly. "Oi! Tsunade-baachan! (Grandma)" He yelled. Tsunade's head shot up, and she glowered at whoever had dared to call her…-! "Naruto!"

Naruto was suddenly caught in a death hug, courtesy of the Hokage. Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke arrived just in time to dodge away. Toboe snickered. "Naruto, where've you been!" Tsunade wondered. Naruto made some choking noises, and she grinned sheepishly. "Oops, sorry." She said and let go of him.

Naruto coughed slightly, and grinned. "I've been in the forest, training! Now it won't be long before I'm Hokage!" He declared. Tsunade chuckled, and noticed Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke as well. "Kakashi! You better have a good explanation as to why you and your team took an vacation without saying!" She demanded.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Yare, yare. What would you have us do? Drastic changes need drastic help." He said. Sakura huffed. "What he means is that something happened, and we needed Toboe's help to fix it." She explained. Tsunade nodded.

"Yes…our training was cut short when you left, Sakura. But I hope you have learned something? That goes for all of you." She said. Toboe stepped forth from the corner she had been standing in. "Of course! I've taught them how to hunt, use less moves to do something, and stuff like that. Oh, and we all taught Sasuke that revenge is unneeded." She explained.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "And how did you do that? Last time I saw him, he was a maniac, more or less." She deadpanned. Sasuke huffed and looked away. Toboe shrugged. "We beat him up. And each time he thought about it again, Itachi would dangle tomatoes in front of him before eating them." She said.

Tsunade blinked. "O…k. I see you've changed your clothes too. Nice choices. And Naruto, did you color your hair?" She asked. Naruto tilted his head. "No, I didn't. Probably because of the furball." He said. Tsunade nodded, after glancing at the others.

"Well, what will you do?" She asked. Naruto blinked, not understanding the question. The others did though. Sakura looked somewhat pensive. "We'll be staying in the forest about a half year more, I think. We need more training, and we can convince everyone that we've been on a training trip." She said.

Tsunade nodded, and smiled slightly. "You've got a good head, Sakura. I want frequent updates though, understand?" She demanded. Everyone nodded. Kakashi frowned. "There is one thing…the Akatsuki may come into action soon. We've confronted them once, but there's no telling when it will happen next, or what will happen." He said.

Tsunade frowned. "I'll notify Jiraiya. He should be able to keep an eye on them."

XXX

Time passed after team 7's visit to Tsunade, and all too soon, it was time for the finals…

**Yep. That's it. Now, if you think I'll make a pairing NejiTema, you're wrong. I think. You know, I've never read a NejiTema. Weird. Anyways, that's the end.**

**Ja ne!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here's the next chapter! Sorry for being so late! I just ...didn't have that 'write-write-write' thing for a while, preferring to focus on other, more interesting ideas...but I finally finished it. I'll try being faster with the next chapter, but I can't promise anything...**

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto! Understood?

**Ikimono Shinobi**

**Chapter 12: Exams are a hassle.**

They all stood in front of Aoba. The sunglasses-wearing Tokujo (Special jounin) was looking at them all with a slight smirk. "I hope none of you are planning to start an invasion this time." He stated, pointedly looking at Gaara and Temari.

Gaara smirked. "I do not think so. It would be unfortunate to destroy our chances to become chuunin once more." He said. Aoba nodded. "Well, you all better look good, and you'll get your chance." He smiled, and waved up to the Hokage in the booth.

XXX

Lots of people sat in the stadium, excited. The chuunin exams were always something to see. There were those who would bet and use force to win if necessary, but mostly everyone came for entertainment and normal bets.

"Okay, the first match is Karui vs Temari! All the other contestants go up to the waiting place." Aoba announced. The others left, with Toboe flashing thumbs up at Temari.

XXX

Temari and Karui stood in front of each other. Karui had her hand on her sword, and Temari stood with her arms crossed, fans in the sash around her waist. She still wore the spandex suit, if only because it increased her mobility.

"Start!" Aoba yelled, and moved out of the way.

Karui immediately dashed forward, brandishing her sword. She swung it, and Temari back-flipped away. "You'll have to do something else than dodge all the time!" Karui yelled, when Temari continued to evade her strikes.

Temari scoffed. "Fine with me." She said, pulled her fans out of her sash, and threw one of them with surprising accuracy. It cut of some of Karui's hair. Karui on her part didn't care much, but she was surprised that when she tried to grab the fan, her hand was cut. "Wind…?" She murmured.

Temari smirked. "Yup." She said as the fan somehow came back to her. Karui narrowed her eyes and looked at Temari more closely. Around Temari, there were a lot of small, cutting winds. Trying out her theory, Karui threw a kunai. It was deflected before it hit Temari.

"My wind defense." Temari explained, grinning. Karui narrowed her eyes. "Well, wind is weaker than fire! Katon, goukakyu no jutsu! (Fire style, great fireball jutsu)" She yelled, and breathed out a big fireball. Temari huffed, and began waving her fans while spinning faster and faster.

The fireball impacted…and everyone was surprised when it span around in the same pattern as Temari's wind defense, wildly trying to break trough, but the winds were too powerful. Then, Temari suddenly stopped spinning, and used the wind to send the fireball back at Karui, now much larger because of the wind.

"Shit!" Karui cursed and kawarimied with a three branch. Temari was panting slightly, and put her fans into her sash again. "Time to end this! Konoha Daisenko! (Leaf great flash)" She yelled. Karui had no time to think as Temari was suddenly over with her, kicked her, and sent her spinning into the wall of the arena.

"…Ouch." She groaned, and gritted her teeth. "You able to fight anymore?" Aoba inquired. She scowled. "Yes! … No." She mumbled defeated. Aoba nodded. "Winner: Temari!" He yelled. The crowd cheered.

XXX

"Yeah! Temari won! I knew it! My undefeatable logic said so!" Toboe cheered. Gaara rolled his eyes. "You sent her to train with Gai. And she has her wind defense. Of course she would win." He drawled. Yugito, or Aoiro, snorted.

"She has become more skilled though." Akame-Itachi said.

XXX

"Next match is Aoiro vs Kiba! Can the contestants come down here?" Aoba yelled. Aoiro grinned at Kiba, and flipped over the fence, before landing smoothly. Kiba huffed and just jumped down, together with the rather large Akamaru.

"You'll go down, kitty!" Kiba declared. Akamaru barked in agreement. Aoiro rolled her eyes. "Sure thing, kibble. Just don't think you can go easy on me." She taunted. Kiba scowled.

"Start!"

Aoiro … looked at her delicately manicured nails. Kiba gritted his teeth. "Well, you shouldn't underestimate me either! Shikyaku no jutsu! (Four legs jutsu)" He yelled, fell down on all fours and gained claws, and sharper canines.

Aoiro looked interested. "Hey, that's similar to my jutsu…let's try out the differences! Neko ni kyūshō ari! (Cats have nine lives)" She yelled. This time, she stood still, so you could see the changes happening.

"I'm still better!" Kiba growled, and ran at Aoiro. She swiftly dodged, moving elegantly like a cat. "Oh? I don't think so!" She taunted, and slashed off an arm of his grey jacket. Kiba retaliated by having the forgotten Akamaru slam into Aoiro.

"Yikes! Bad dog! Ugh, what's with dogs?" She complained as she struggled to get free. Kiba grinned. "Akamaru! Here!" He yelled, and tossed a red pill to the white dog.

Akamaru swallowed it, and Aoiro twitched as the large dog became wilder, and red. Then he drooled on her.

"…Eww! Get off! Chakura Shojo! (Chakra manifestation!)" She yelled. Akamaru yelped as he was thrown of Aoiro by a large paw. Kiba blinked when the chakra around Aoiro seemed to form something. A…cat? A large, blue cat, with glowing yellow eyes…?

The cat yowled and hissed at him. He could barely see Aoiro inside the shroud of chakra, but he saw her satisfied smirk. "Oh, come on!" Kiba complained as a large flaming chakra paw reached for him. "Akamaru! Gatsuuga! (Fang passing Fang)" He yelled, and they both used the drill-like attack to evade, before trying to attack.

The cat-like chakra hissed as it was hit, but as soon as Kiba dashed away, it reformed. Inside, Aoiro narrowed her eyes. "Ma-katon, goukakyuu no jutsu! (Demon/demonic fire style, great fireball jutsu)" She yelled, her voice sounding dark and foreboding, as the giant cat-form seemed to assemble flames into a ball in its open mouth, before breathing out towards Kiba.

XXX

Itachi-Akame raised an eyebrow. "Certainly impressive. I take it she made it by looking at Nibi's monster fireball?" He turned the question towards Toboe. She nodded with a grin. "I helped her a little, but she did it mostly by herself! Just wait till you see Gaara and Naruto's versions…" She snickered. Itachi-Akame smiled slightly.

XXX

"Yikes! Fire-breathing kitty!" Kiba exclaimed as he searched for any way out of this development. "Damn, I haven't perfected it yet, but…Suiton, gyaku suiro no jutsu! (Water style, reverse water prison)" He yelled, and stepped on a water bottle from his jacket. Then, he made a thick sphere of water around himself and Akamaru, and braced himself for the impact.

In the stands, many people were surprised, and intrigued by Kiba's skillful use of an originally capturing jutsu. Of course, Aoiro's skills were nothing to scoff at either.

Fire hit water, and steam flooded the arena. People were at the edge of their seats, waiting to see whether the dog ninja was still alive, or dead.

The steam lifted…and Kiba was lying on the ground, unconscious. Aoiro stood behind him, now without the cat-shroud of chakra, and held a kunai with its blunt end towards Kiba, obviously meaning she had knocked him unconscious.

"Winner, Aoiro!"

XXX

People cheered, and Aoiro-Yugito smirked and waved slightly before she sat down up with the others. Toboe grinned. "Amazing! You've gotten better at controlling your chakra." She praised. Yugito smirked. "Of course." She merely replied.

"Will the next contestants, Gaara and Hinata, come down?"

Gaara looked at Hinata with a tilted head, before doing his sand shunshin down to the arena. Hinata smiled slightly and walked down the stairs.

XXX

"Start!"

Hinata was already moving. She dashed towards Gaara, eyes blazing and hands full of chakra. To most people's surprise, the sand-covered boy ducked under Hinata's strike, and tried to kick away her feet from under her. She jumped, and tried to strike him downwards.

Gaara narrowed his eyes, and willed his sand to move in the way, as he quickly got some distance between himself and the blue-haired girl. He waved his arms. "Suna shigure! (Sand drizzle)" He said, and Hinata's eyes tilted slightly upwards, seeing a sand cloud.

She quickly jumped backwards, away from the sand cloud, and the sand waiting to catch her on the ground. "You can't hide your attacks from my byakugan." she stated. Gaara tilted his head. "So be it." he nodded, and with surprising speed, he was close to Hinata with a palm towards her.

She sent her own palm to meet, and was surprised when she noticed his hand was full of chakra. 'I couldn't see it! But why? Is it his sand armor?' She thought. Gaara smirked. "You have an opening." He said, and twisted around to land a hit on her leg.

She yelped. "That-!" She realized something. Gaara smiled slightly. "I have studied your fighting style, and I am able to use it to ever so slightly. However, with sand…" He drifted off as sand gathered at his hands. He now had some impressive claws, and sand flowed over his hand. "Prepare yourself." He droned, and attacked with a slashing move.

Hinata's eyes widened. "Shugohakke rokujuuyon shou! (Protection of the sixty-four palms.) " She yelled, and began moving insanely fast, making her movements a blur. Gaara winced as he was hit with a chakra beam and leapt away. "Fine. Ryusa bakuryu! (Sand tsunami)" He declared, and people in the stands were sitting at the edge of their seats, watching a giant sand tsunami descend towards Hinata.

She continued with the protecting dome, and it held the sand away…for a while. While it didn't hit Hinata, or drown her, it was now pooling up around the dome. Inside, she was panting, and her movements became slower. Suddenly, the dome vanished. Hinata leapt high into the air, only to be surprised when the sand followed her.

Gaara caught her foot, and she was briefly hit with a panic attack, remembering what happened to Lee, but remembered that Gaara was nice now, and calmed down slightly. Gaara covered the rest of her body in sand, and gently lowered her down.

"Winner, Gaara!" Aoba yelled. The crowd was cheering wildly, and Gaara helped Hinata up. "Good match." He nodded to her before using his sand shunshin to get up to his friends.

XXX

"That was awesome Gaara!" Toboe grinned. Gaara smirked. "Of course. Hinata is strong." He said. Akame-Itachi nodded. "Yes…very much so." He agreed.

XXX

Toboe and Akame stood over each other. Akame was emotionless, Toboe was grinned insanely. "About time we get to fight, ne?" She asked. Akame quirked a small smile. "Indeed."

"Start!"

Akame rushed trough hand seals, while Toboe ran at him. "Katon, goukakyuu no jutsu! (Fire style, great fireball jutsu)" He said, and breathed a fireball at the charging wolf girl. She deftly dodged to the side, and span around, touching her wrist.

Beni Houkou appeared in all its glory, and Itachi narrowed his eyes. Toboe swung the scythe over her head with the chain, and threw it at Itachi. He quickly evaded it, and ducked under when it came a second time.

He grabbed a kunai, and using his natural agility, he got in close to Toboe. The wolf girl grinned and leaned backwards away from a kunai swing, let go of the scythe and kicked up. Itachi leaned to the side, and they continued like that for a while, one attacking, and the other evading.

XXX

In the stands, Aoiro frowned. "Why aren't they going all out?" She murmured, disappointed. The other ninjas looked incredulously at them. Gaara paid them no mind. "They would level the whole place. An S-rank missing nin and a wolf demon, remember?" He whispered the last part, and Aoiro grinned sheepishly. "Right. Should've remembered the last time they sparred seriously…"

XXX

Akame suddenly leapt away, and began going trough hand seals again. Toboe smirked, and began her own.

"Katon, karyuu endan! (Fire style, fire dragon flame bullet.)"

"Suiton, daisuiryuudan! (Water style, great water dragon bullet!)"

The powerful dragon-formed attacks attacked each other, leaving a lot of steam as they continued trying to overpower each other. Toboe kept the great water dragon in good shape, replenishing it with water from the steam, and Akame kept the fire dragon up by giving it chakra, and breathing in a circular way, allowing him to breath longer.

Toboe grinned as she suddenly cut off the water dragon, and it fell down over the other with a great splash. Akame's eyes widened, and he leapt up into a tree. Toboe followed. People were watching in awe as they could only see glimpses of color, and hear the sound of weapons meeting.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu! (Shadow clone jutsu)" Both participants declared. The fighting arena was filled with clones. "Bunshin daibakuha! (Clone explosion)"

…Aoba got the hell out of the arena as all the clones exploded in a massive show of power.

"It's a tie! It's a tie! You're both going to the next rounds! It's a tie!" Aoba shouted hysterically. The dust settled to show Toboe and Akame without a single scrape on them. "Fine." They sighed in unison. Everyone was slightly disturbed.

XXX

"Wow…just wow." Aoiro was speechless. So was everyone else for that matter. Both the unimportant genins forfeited, seeing what powerful opponents there was. Toboe rolled her eyes. "That was fun, but too short." She claimed. Kiba twitched. "You know, I think you won." He decided.

Toboe grinned. "Yeah! I'm better than dog-boy! Whoo!" She cheered, dancing around. Everyone sweat-dropped.

XXX

The Hokage rose from her seat and used an amplifying jutsu. "That was certainly interesting, right? Well, you'll have to wait fifteen minutes before the fights continue. You are now able to place new bets, or reevaluate those you have already done!" She yelled, her voice booming over the arena.

Toboe blinked. "We're having a break?" She questioned blankly. Akame nodded. "It seems so. Probably to change some of the fights, seeing as both of us got to the next round." He stated. Toboe pouted.

"Quit sulking, you're amazing either way." Aoiro said. Toboe grinned. "Yeah, I am! Thanks for cheering me up! Now, move it, time!" She shouted. People looked weirdly at her.

XXX

"First match of the second round! Temari vs. Gaara!" Aoba announced.

Temari blinked. "I was not expecting that. Well, let's do our best, Gaara!" She grinned, and jumped down to the arena. Gaara smiled and followed.

XXX

"Start!"

Gaara immediately went on the offensive, making his sand attack Temari. The blonde girl back flipped away and slashed at the paws of sand with her fans, cutting them into pieces.

"I won't let you near me!" Temari declared, joining her fans into one. "Daikamaitachi no jutsu! (Great Sickle weasel jutsu)" Gaara's eyes widened as he gathered sand to protect himself, though it seemed futile, as the powerful winds cut it up with powerful slashes.

"Hn. Fuuton, mugen sajin daitoppa! (Wind style, infinite sand cloud great breakthrough)" Gaara yelled, sucking in a whole load of air. Temari gulped as he blew the air out again, making a squall. "Holy crap! Well, let's see if this works…Fuuton, hogo eadomo! (Wind style, protective air dome)" She shouted, tossing her now separate fans into the air and moving them with the wind, faster and faster.

Powerful winds met, and Aoba held onto a tree branch for dear life. 'These are supposed to be chuunin exams! Not jounin!' He thought hysterically.

Temari was panting heavily as she grabbed hold of her fans again. Gaara was breathing slightly more heavy, but nothing much. "Forfeit." He said. Temari shook her head. "No way! If I lose, I'll go out with a crash!" She yelled, and put her fans in the sash, before doing a flying kick. "Dainamikku entorii! (Dynamic entry)"

Gaara stopped her by swerving away and grabbing a hold of her waist with his sand. Then he simply knocked her out with a fist to the head.

"Winner, Gaara! Geez, what a short fight…" Aoba muttered the last part. Gaara glared. "What does time matter? Or would you rather we had continued that wind attack for longer?" He asked. Aoba shook his head. "No, no. Get up now, kid." Gaara glowered at him for calling him a kid, but went up.

XXX

"Awesomeness!" Toboe cheered. Gaara blinked. "Sure." He shrugged. Toboe grinned. "Worried for your sister? Don't be. She'll be fine." She reassured the redhead. He nodded. Aoiro came over.

"What was that wind attack you did? I've never seen it before…" She wondered. Gaara smirked. "It's one of Shukaku's attacks, actually. I'm lucky I managed to pull it off." He said. Aoiro nodded.

XXX

"Next up; Aoiro vs. Akame!" Aoba yelled. Aoiro swallowed heavily. "Well shit. Akame…if you go into my mind, I'll have Nibi fry you." She warned. Akame twitched. "I will keep that in mind."

XXX

"Start." Aoba said, and leapt away. Akame and Aoiro stood stock-still.

"Magen, jubaku satsu. (Demonic illusion, tree binding death)" Akame intoned. Aoiro's eyes widened, and she gritted her teeth, as it seemed a tree coiled around her. "Kai!" She yelled, and tried to break the genjutsu. Akame came walking slowly.

"You may try, but I put extra chakra into it..." He said. Aoiro huffed and tried again. "Kai! Kai! Goddamnit, KAI!" She shouted, and Akame's eyes widened and he leapt away from a fanning wave of chakra, acting like fire. He winced slightly when he got a burn on his leg.

"Feh, I hate genjutsu. So I'll put you in your place!" Aoiro roared as flame-like chakra poured out of her to form a one-tailed cat with a green and a yellow eye.

Akame twitched. "At least she didn't power up completely." He muttered, before dodging her tail.

"Graaah! Stand still, pest!" Aoiro roared, sounding like a mix of herself and Nibi. Akame grimaced and evaded being slashed up by a wicked set of claws.

"I suppose I have no choice…" He muttered, and looked into Aoiro-Nibi's eyes. The large cat blinked, and then slumped. "S-Sleepy…" she mumbled. Akame nodded. "I would expect you to be. I hypnotized you. Goodnight." He said, just as the cat dissolved, showing Aoiro sleeping on the arena ground.

"Winner, Akame! Damn, that was a short fight…" Aoba muttered. Akame looked at him. "Err…never mind." The tokujo grimaced, looking at his unnerving red eyes.

XXX

"You put her to sleep? Mm…it just hasn't got that awesome feeling." Toboe shook her head. Akame rolled his eyes. "I'm not going for awesome. I don't even want to be here, remember?" He muttered. Toboe shrugged. "Well, you're here!" She grinned.

"Next fight is…"

XXX

**Ah...I tried to make a cliffhanger. Keyword: Tried. It's kind of half-assed...-.-"**

**Please Review!**


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